Idle Glances
by NeonLit
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki is dead. Following the death of his father, Boruto and Sarada leave the village as Boruto tries to gain revenge for the murder of his father and Sarada desperately tries to stop him from doing something he regrets. Meanwhile, Inojin and the rest of his team are thrown into the middle of Konoha's political drama as the power vacuum left by the Naruto's death.
1. Prologue: Tear Stained Dirt

It'd been so many years of peace that Uzumaki Hinata had forgotten what it's like to see a funeral procession for the death of a shinobi in battle. The last one was many years ago now, her own cousin Neji's, and even that was painful enough for her to remember. The dripping rain had broken her heart and even the warming comfort from Naruto had barely been able to keep her steady. Even then, she'd never found herself so wracked with grief that she was barely able to feel anything.

However, the funeral today was determined to hit her even harder than that of her beloved cousin. Her only love had fallen in an underhanded, cowardly attack to a faceless group so far from the village that he'd loved as long as breath had been in his lungs. Naruto had decided to venture to the outskirts of the elemental nations with Shikamaru, chasing rumours of hidden clans and villages, with the hope of integrating them into the peaceful society they had helped mould. Many had called him crazy, insisting there was nothing outside the elemental nations, merely barren lands that were completely uninhabitable.

Of course, even in his role as Hokage, Naruto hadn't been able to give up on the chance to look into the rumours. Despite how much he'd grown up, he'd still retained his smile, his playfulness, his love for life. Even reminiscing on it now brought a tear to the lady's quivering amethyst eyes. Years of his voice echoed through her mind, that beautiful man who'd she'd loved and would continue to love. Some of the elder's had insisted that the Hokage was making a mistake going himself, that he should send an envoy in his place, but he'd insisted that he go, that "It would look better if I go." She could barely stand the fact that she hadn't begged him more, hadn't dug her heels in and begged him to stay. Ever since he'd told her that he'd be going away, she'd had a brooding feeling of worry deep in her body and it hadn't gone away, only further intensifying till the day that she'd been told the news.

Gently, she wiped the tears away. She needed to stay strong for her children despite the aching in her heart, even when she just wanted to tell them that things might not be okay. It hurt her so much to see the tears streaming down the face of Himawari, and the look of stoic anger brewing on Boruto's face. A face so much like his fathers, yet so different in so many ways. And worst of all, the six year old in her arms who was barely able to comprehend what was happening, only that her father would not be coming home this time. Mina's white eyes roamed around the faces in the crowd, trying to understand why everyone was wearing black and why no one was really talking or smiling.

Again, Hinata found her mind was drawn back to the events that had led to the current misery, as if stuck on an express train to misery.

Upon their arrival on the outskirts of the nations, Naruto and Shikamaru, along with their ANBU escort had been greeted by a small group of well-dressed shinobi, who whilst cold, had welcomed them to their village. That night, they had celebrated with the villagers, having much to eat and drink with an agreement being settled between the villages to join the union. Hinata had forced herself to read through the logs of the only returning member of the party, trying desperately to understand what had gone so wrong. One thought had continuously run through her head the whole time whilst reading the volume; _why didn't they realise something was so wrong earlier?_

As they'd left the village the following morning, Shikamaru had complained to Naruto about being sluggish, something that wasn't necessarily all that out of the ordinary for him. So Naruto had shrugged it off as Shikamaru not being a morning person and they'd pushed on towards the next nation, making slow progress through the thick forests. It was noted by the surviving ANBU member that everyone was looking a little off-colour and acting a little differently compared to the brisk pace that had been set the previous days. Naruto's skin had apparently looked pallid and he'd had to keep stopping to catch his breath.

And then it had happened.

It took place roughly around midday. The ambush by the shinobi of the village was far too quick to the drugged reflexes of the group and Naruto had been the first to fall with a near silent arrow piercing his heart, quickly followed by one to the jugular. The tips were also laced with a paralytic poison causing him to fall hard and dislodge the arrow, letting him bleed freely. Shikamaru had fared a little better, managing to take out two of the opposing force before taking several arrows to the chest. One of the ANBU members was a vegetarian and had not participated in the feasting. She managed to quickly escape with the two men's bodies, barely evading the capture of the vicious forces. It could on be assumed that the others were also murdered by the ruthless villagers.

A small sob slipped past Hinata's lips.

Her one true love, the one person she'd always believed in had disappeared so quickly that she'd never even gotten to say goodbye. She'd wanted to grow old together, not to bare the weight of another death on her shoulders. Nothing like this.

Slowly, the procession arrived and Hinata, along with the children were seated next to Temari and the furiously sobbing Shikadai. His eyeliner has streaked so badly that it looks like he's smeared war-paint across his face, in the vein of his uncle. Hinata made brief eye contact with Temari, who had always had a cool, calm demeanour, which looked so close to breaking that she can barely take it. Reaching out, Hinata took Temari's hand and squeezed it tight in hers, and was rewarded with a small nod from the woman. Her façade was icy, very reminiscent of the first time they had met.

When everyone was finally seated, the funeral began, with various members of the village and other nations coming forwards to talk about the man that had changed the world. Gaara spoke at length about how much Naruto changed the world and how much of an impact he'd had upon him as a person. Halfway through the speech, he began to silently tear up halfway through the speech, his throat constricting and his dark rimmed eyes closing tightly. At that point Kankuro escorted him from the stage, giving his shoulder a tight reassuring squeeze. When Kakashi talked in a very calm, albeit it memorable speech, he reminisced on Naruto's early years as a shinobi, telling a few anecdotes from the early years before returning to his. Then, Lee tried to make a speech about youth, but was so completely wracked with grief that he said about three words and collapsed, breaking down into racking sobs. He was helped off stage by Tenten, who murmured something about how stupid he was, coaxing him back into his seat. Out of their friends, the two had suffered loss more often than anyone else, so to see Lee breaking down this badly made it clear that this was no ordinary funeral.

Then it was Hinata's turn and she sluggishly moved to her feet, the veil that was covering her eyes hiding the streaming tears. She was determined to do this, if not for herself, for the memory of her beloved husband. The speech started slowly, talking about her first encounters with Naruto as children, and his familiar arrogance, which brought a few smiles to the audience, finding levity through the grief. As the flow of her speech built up, she lamented about their early years as shinobi and how she'd watched him grow from a prankster into an overconfident teen, to a wise leader of men. The story flowed into the Invasion of Pain, the Kage summit, and the Shinobi war. Several pauses were made as the pain welled up inside her chest, but it didn't halt her progress as she built up into describing his ascent to the position of Hokage and his love for his children. She whispered about how he'd first told her about his love for her. She found her eyes focussing on the three children sitting in the front row, tears running down their adolescent faces, although Boruto was trying to hold it back with all of his might. The speech finished quietly, as she said her goodbye and swiftly moved off stage

As of the conclusion of her speech, nearly everyone was crying, be it young or old, male or female. Only one member of the audience seemed to be holding off his emotions. Sasuke Uchiha, the last speaker for Naruto. As they passed each other, his hand caressed her shoulder so quickly that she barely felt it and wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't heard his cloak flapping.

His speech was completely different from hers.

Sasuke spoke of bonds.

He spoke of friendship and ties.

And when he spoke of the best friend he'd ever had, the one who filled the hole left by the death of his family, his head started to droop, his long hair falling over and covering those dark eyes. By the end, his voice had dropped so quiet that the front row could barely hear him, the microphone struggling to pick up his words. He hand clenched at his chest, tightly scrunching his cloak, before he screamed out loud, and sank to his knees. In an instant, Sakura was on the stage, her arms around him and holding him close to her. As she whispered to him and kissed his face, Hinata found herself wishing in a detached way that it were her consoling Naruto at Sasuke's funeral instead, not the other way around.

The next round of speeches revolved around Shikamaru, and Temari made a short speech about how that bastard shouldn't have died, how he'd failed the one simple thing she asked him not to do. She went on to talk about how he'd always appeared to her as a bright light among the folly but now that was gone. Her speech cracked her voice and it ricocheted through the crowd, the mood dropping even further, as the podium crunched beneath her tight grip. The blonde woman kept a defiant expression on her face as she left the stage, crossing her arms even as a few solitary tears streaked down her face. Shikadai clenched onto her arm and she ruffled his hair statically. The sight made Hinata recall how Shikamaru had said that all he wanted was to have two children once and wondered why the two had never gotten around to having a second child. She supposed that she'd never know now.

When the coffins were lowered into the ground, the silence was deafening, everyone watching their beloved Hokage and his brilliant adviser finally being returned to the earth. The crowd dispersed quietly, with few words being said among the group, with a few solitary figures maintaining their vigil by the graveside. The mood was sombre and no one spoke, save for the quiet sobbing from some of the mourners.

Her children left with Sakura, and soon the only people left were Hinata, Temari and Sasuke, standing in front of their lovers and friend's grave, tears dripping onto the freshly upturned earth. Temari leaves after an hour, giving Hinata a small pat on her back. Sasuke and Hinata didn't talk, didn't even acknowledge the presence of each other, merely holding themselves together by the grave, before Sasuke finally left without so much as a 'goodbye'. The lack of presence breaks Hinata's mostly quiet composure and she collapses to her knees, crying, howling and screaming at the softly compacted earth. Her woes batter into the graveside, but nothing is given in return. There is no reply from the tear stained dirt as she continues to pound her fists into the soil.

The hours passed as Hinata quietly talked to herself, before she slumps forwards to the ground, her knees sinking further into the grooves they had dug. She didn't care that her face was smudged with mud, nor the fact that people could hear her tortured howls. Her cracked voice reminisced of the first times she had seen him, of when she saw him fight in the Chūnin exams, when she'd run to his side when Pain had been so verbally beating him down. So many memories from before they were in love and so many after, but she had to hold onto them. It was as if every passing second took her further away from it and she could hardly bear it. At some point in her frenzied ranting, she realised that it was raining, the water mixing with the mud created by her own tears. The woman was so numb that she could hardly feel the effects of the weather, merely hugging herself tighter.

The sun was starting to show its face before someone came to her side. Boruto. Before he could grab her and take her home, she pushed him off and looked at the ground once more. The wind ruffled her hair and her tear stained eyes hurt from the cold seeping into her. Her chapped lips opened and she spoke one small phrase with closed eyes.

"I'll always love you Naruto-kun." The words felt hollow as they drop from her lips, and she finally let her son lead her away.

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><p>Continued here:<p>

s/10822242/8/Idle-Glances


	2. Saving Graces

_Updated: 31/10/15: Proofread and cleaned up with a nice new section for Temari. Enjoy~_

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><p>Since the death of Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha had been taken by a depressive mood swing.<p>

The citizens no longer had a spring in their step when they walked through the village, their eyes downcast, looking completely depleted of energy. It was as if the pounding rain that had filled the village for weeks had taken its toll upon the wellbeing of all the inhabitants. Boruto found himself musing over the state of the village as he sat upon the sculpture of his father's face, his hood up in an attempt to cover himself from the pouring rain. The haze covered the inhabitants, with people scattering from building and shelter, attempting to reduce just how much they got soaked.

Sighing, he raised his chin to the sky, letting the cold water wash away his tears. This perch was one of the only places he'd found that could truly avoid people's staring gazes and regret filled eyes. It also meant that he didn't have to hear the incessant whispering, the quiet mouthing of sympathies, that eternal back and forth of people giving him their grievances for the loss of his father. _Bastards, the lot of them. _Gritting his teeth, he leant back under the crag of rock and breathed out heavily, clenching and unclenching his hand. Ever since he'd found out that his father had been murdered, he'd felt more driven than ever before. Thoughts of revenge plagued his consciousness, filled his every moment of waking and then visited him in the forms of vicious dreams. The cycle was leaving him exhausted, but desperately avoiding sleep, leaving him with haggard bags underneath his eyes.

It left him falling into comatose naps from which he couldn't be raised.

With a twitch, he shuffled around around in his perch, his pale eyes skating around the village rooftops, watching one particular flash that was quickly progressing towards his location. His stomach lurched when he recognised the colour of the flash, a deep emerald green that was topped with a blackness that could only belong to one possible member of the village. Sighing, the boy pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed. Internally, he begged all of the gods that he wouldn't need to go through this encounter; that he could perhaps be spared from the excruciating pain just this one time. Alas, like most things recently, the gods were not on his side.

Rock Lee landed roughly on the surface of the former Hokage's nose, his sandals sliding precariously across the wet surface. Once he'd regained his balance, he looked across at the boy with a grin on his face. He walked along the dangerously angled nose, before sliding into the eye-socket alongside the boy, the water from his clothes drenching the area around him. Lee smiled and ran a hand through his sodden hair, before leaning back, watching the pouring rain. The harsh pounding echoed in the socket, leaving the two quietly sitting, no words being exchanged before Lee finally broke the silence. "So, how long do you plan to spend up here, Boruto?"

Boruto cast his eyes downwards, wondering just how long he'd been up in the carving. Time passed quite easily when he let himself glide away in thought. It gave him a reprieve from the incessant training he was putting himself through. Shakily, he brought his hand up in front of his eyes and panned his eyes over the scars and scratches he'd gained in the weeks since the death of his father. His callouses were rough from long practice with a sword that he'd purchased from the weapons dealer, Tenten, and he'd been running long hard sessions with it. By the end of most sessions the callouses were dripping blood and his fingers were numb.

"You may not want to talk Boruto, but right now, you're not only ignoring me, but you're ignoring your friends and family as well." He grunted gently, ignoring the older man, turning his shoulder to him, twisting on the spot. Lee sighed and rocked back and forth on the spot, his eyebrows knotted together. "19 years ago, I lost one of my best friends in the entire world. I never got the chance to tell him just how much he meant to me, because he was taken away in the flash of an eye." Boruto slowly rolled his head around to meet his eyes the older man, before looking away once more. Ever since his childhood, he'd found himself terrified by the oddly cartoonish nature of the man's eyes and even now, he couldn't do it for more than a few moments. "Neji meant a lot to me and he died without ever letting me know just how he truly felt about me, so now I'll forever be in the lurch," he sighed. "But you don't have that; you know exactly how much your father cared for you."

The silence between them only made the dripping water seem so much the louder, so much more deafening than it had previously. When Boruto finally found the words that he was looking for, it was a huge surprise that Lee could even hear them, given how softly they were being spoken. "I know. I know he did and that's why this hurt so much." His whispered words filled with his depression and hurt. Konoha's second Green Beast sighed and once again ran his hands through his thick hair. In the year's after the war, he'd found himself feeling like that, along with his long-term teammate Tenten. The two of them had consistently found themselves struggling through long nights side by side, not romantically, but closer than friends. Even now, days would come where the two of them would spend a night drinking tea and talking about the old days, before falling asleep leaning on each other on the couch. It was a consistent thing and he wondered if the same fate would befall this downtrodden blonde boy in front of him.

Finally Boruto made his move and stood up, pulling back his hood and letting the rain wash into his hair. The pouring water washed down his face, drenching him to the bone and Lee snorted at the bizarre gesture. The boy turned around and looked directly at the Jōnin with an unreadable expression on his face before turning once more, and sliding off the carving, letting his fall be slowed down by controlling the levels of chakra in his feet. Eventually the boy came to a stop at the base of the mountain and looked back up to see the enigmatic shinobi looking down at him. Propping up his hood once more, he pulled it tightly down over his fringe, protecting his hair and face once more. The rain continued its incessant downpour, hounding him incessantly as he continued his path through the village. He found himself glad for its pounding however, because it hid his tears.

Sarada looked up at the grey cloudy sky from under the shelter of the tea shop roof and watched as the incessant rain pounding the formerly dry earth that surrounded Konoha. For weeks it had been raining nonstop, and there was no sign of an end in sight. It was as if the perpetual storms that so often plagued Amegakure had decided to take a regular place up in the sky-space above the village. It was as if the land itself was grieving over the loss of the Hokage and from the looks of it, that wasn't going to change any time soon.

She leant back against the storefront support post, enjoying the feel of it against her warm jacket. It was unusual for her to wear this many clothes in seasons other than autumn or winter, but the recent weather had forced her to wear her warmer jackets. Most of the merchants were scuttling around the streets, like startled fish in a pond. The open market and the stalls were not made for these levels of storms, and most of the stands were suffering damage from the ongoing weather.

She pulled her jacket tight around her as two figures crossed the small bridge and came over in her direction, hands raised in greeting. Even in this miserable weather, the dark haired Shikadai had his usual short sleeved Nara-garb on, seemingly unaffected by the bitter cold and wet. On the other hand, Inojin had a thick jacket on, trying to shield the brunt of the chill. He'd never been a fan of cold weather, even if he spent most of his time awake at night and in his crop-tops. She smirked at how uncomfortable he seemed to be with his midriff being covered and she wondered if he was plotting how to slice the jacket wide open, and bare his glorious midriff to the world. Sarada frowned as a bit of flush spread to her cheeks and she hurriedly pushed the feeling down as the two boys came down and ducked under the cover of the roofing.

"Hey Sarada, enjoying the weather I see," Shikadai began, his tone dry Ever since they'd been children, the Nara had been snarky, a fact that wasn't helped by the collective sarcasm that could be summoned by the both of his parents. Even before Sarada had been able to understand the sarcasm that laced his words, she could remember him being arrogant and conceited, which were unfortunately traits that had not faded away in his teenage years. If anything, the only thing that had improved was his views of others. It didn't stop him from being a conceited arse, she reflected as she shook her head dismissively.

"One day you won't be an ass Shikadai, and it seems like today is not that day." He snorted, hardly insulted by her tone, and proceeded to start wringing out the heavy load of rainwater taking up residence in his hair. Inojin shook his head in amazement before coming across and sitting down against the wall and pulling out a small piece of paper. He scrawled on it gently with his ink pen and smiled as he started to spread the ink out across the page. Much like his father, the boy had taken to the ink and enjoyed spending much of his time drawing. As Sarada watched, a small rabbit took shape and with a few quick gestures, flew out of the paper and bounded across the clearing, before exploding into a splotch of ink when he released the jutsu. He loved sending small animals around the village and Sarada had learned early on to never believe you were truly alone unless you made sure that none of his creations were lurking.

The group stood quietly looking at one another before Shikadai cleared his throat and broke the silence, tactlessly as always. "So what are we going to do with our resident sad-sack?" The combined glares from the other two made him pipe down for a while before he got fidgety once more. "Seriously, are we just gonna sit here contemplating our navels forever, or are we actually going to do something?" Inojin sighed and wrapped up the piece of paper that he'd been doodling on, placing it inside his satchel. He brushed himself off before standing up, and looking directly at the other two.

"Boruto's been in a slump for a while now and it's evident that there's more going on in that blonde head of his than just his dad's death." At this comment, Shikadai gritted his teeth and turned away for a moment, the frank tone of the Yamanaka biting into his carefully maintained shield of nonchalance. It was a talent that the boy had picked up from his father. Except, unlike his father's talent for occasionally making an offensive social faux pas; his son had picked up the habit of using it to push people's buttons. Even after years of being subjected to the nasty habit, Shikadai tended to blunder pretty easily into it. This time, however, the boy merely held himself tightly for a few moments before turning back. His face was red from emotion, so the other two teens graciously bowed their heads, not wanting to embarrass the boy.

With a breath, he returned to his normal colour and raised his green eyes to meet Sarada's, teeth gritted. "All we can do is keep talking to him. Mum always talked about how when she was a kid when people in Suna died, their family members would do irrational or stupid stuff when it wasn't called for." He took a deep breath, scratching his cheek. "Apart from grabbing Boruto by the scruff of his neck and dragging him to the hospital your mum made, there's nothing we can do for him right now. Either he gets better with time or he goes crazy." Sarada's eye twitched violently at the word crazy, evidently trying to supress it viciously. She'd had to cope with people bringing up the insanity of the Uchiha too often and wasn't kind to those who used the word crazy around her.

"Don't say that," she muttered. Shikadai shook his head, the entire movement lacking energy before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever. The point is that Boruto is going the way of Sas-" The Nara boy barely finished his sentence before Sarada's hard fist smacked hard into his jaw. He reeled backwards a few steps before blocking the next strike that came in at his face. "Whoa, okay, I'm sorry, I'm backing off, I'm backing off."

"Shikadai, I get that you're hurting right now but if you say one more word about crazy or my father, I will make sure that any of the girls you're currently chasing after think you have something they don't want to catch." Shikadai opened his mouth, stuttered a bit and turned away flushing virulently. Inojin shook his head in frustration before turning away and looking off towards the training grounds.

"I've got an idea, but it's going to take me some time and it probably won't do all that much to help get him back in line," he shrugged, "But I'll take a crack at it anyway." With that, the Yamanaka turned and walked into the rain, pulling an umbrella from his scroll. The two remaining Shinobi were left standing under the roof watching the whistling boy walk away in the heavy rain.

"Sarada, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything about your dad, I know it's a touchy subject." The girl turned away from the Nara and breathed out gently, watching as her warm breath condescend on the cold air.

"It's fine Shikadai, I know you didn't mean anything by it." She stared out at the pouring rain, watching it pound incessantly on the ground. It was getting to the point that she was used to being wet all the time. Idly she wondered if that was how the inhabitants of Amegakure felt all the time. "Just, don't do it again. Or next time, I'm not going to pull the second punch." A pointed look from the Uchiha sent a chill down his spine and he nodded nervously.

With that last nervous gesture, the Nara walked off into the rainstorm, barely flinching as the pouring rain rammed into his hair. The thought of being doused so thoroughly made her shiver. Then again, he had a talent for ignoring things that got between him and his ability to rest in his house or bed. A girl brushed by and walked off into the rain, barely even flinching. Sarada's eyes followed her, eyes tracing over the odd pattern taking up the back of the girl's combat jacket. She didn't recognise the girl or the symbol, so she figured that the girl was at least one of the new wave of immigrants from outside the village. Since the last war, Konoha's immigration policy had gotten significantly laxer. As a result there were far younger shinobi roaming around, especially teens or adults who'd lost family members during the war and hadn't been able to support themselves within their old home. Mitsuki, one of Boruto's closest friends had been one of the drifters to come in from outside of the village, and he was still pretty clammed shut when anyone asked about his past.

Slowly, she turned and rested her forehead upon the post. Closing her eyes, she just let the sounds of the pouring rain pound into her head. Ever since she was a little girl, she'd always found solace in focussing her thoughts when it was raining. Of course, when she'd been younger she'd never had to worry about the constant rain. She'd spent far more time worrying about whether she'd ever get to meet her father. Then there'd been the fear that Sakura wasn't her real mother when she found out there was more going on behind the scenes. Grimacing, she stood up again and shook off the old feelings of pain and frustration. Bitterness thrown aside for a moment, she took a breath and walked out into the rain, drifting through the village and ignoring the glances that she was getting from people inside the tea shop across the path. _Idiots. _She dawdled through the village, making her way towards the Uchiha estate, pondering over the fate of her friend.

He'd always been this bouncy annoying kid; complaining about things that didn't need to be complained about. Whinging hardcore whenever he'd lose to his dad, crying because he wasn't allowed to learn his dad's high ranking jutsu. He was a spoiled brat with too much talent and it had infuriated her every step of the way, up until he'd tried to make amends and realised that his world view had been warped by his sheltered, loving upbringing. Even when he'd cheated during the Chūnin exam, it had shown.

But now, he was just this angry, hate-filled teenager who was always in this dark mood, stalking around the village with his head down and his hair strewn across his face. He'd also stopped wearing his forehead protector on his head, opting to tie it around his throat, something similar to photos of his mother that she'd seen. Especially since his father's death, Boruto had been distancing himself from his previous goals of surpassing his dad, instead training incessantly and working himself to the bone doing missions and running anything he could to earn money.

Shikadai had come to all of his friends and begged them to try to keep Boruto positive and happy in any way possible. He wanted to see if they could coax out some semblance of his former self. From Inojin's attempts to get Boruto to participate in training with him to Shikadai attempting to get him to join in half-hearted pranks. Neither had had much success and she knew it was taking its toll on Inojin, whose feelings for Boruto were bordering on a bit more than an average friendship. Whilst the Uzumaki had inherited his father's obliviousness, it was quite obvious that Inojin had been crushing on the boy, but she wasn't sure if anything would come out of it or how serious Inojin was. The legendary Uzumaki obliviousness had struck the young man quite hard and she wasn't sure that it would be shaken any time serious. The story of how Hinata had managed to get him to see her as a love interest was legendary among the village youth.

Teeth grinding, she started to jog into the rainy evening. The evening lights were beautiful under the rain and it brought a smile to her face as she dodged around merchants and civilians.

When she finally got home, she lept over the fencing that outlined her home. The path was muddy and her combat boots were covered with splatters within moments. As she staggered up the pathway, the sliding door opened up and she was hurried in by her mother, who looked tired from a long shift at the hospital. The two of them hugged before Sarada hurried into the house and shut the door behind her. With a sigh of relief, she ran into her room, desperate to get out of her wet clothes. While she got changed, she heard the sudden shouts of her mother realising that she was now wet in a Sarada shaped patch. Sarada giggled as she slipped on her dry shirt.

Mitsuki quietly breathed in the chilly air, before breathing out a gracious breath of warm air. Gently he glanced over the ledge and gritted his teeth as he looked down the steep cliff. The steep ravine glared back at him, seemingly inviting him to leap into the gaping maw. As he took another precarious step along the ledge, he slipped on a wet piece of ice and felt himself start to slip down the edge of the vertical face. He desperately tried to get his boots onto the flat ice surface in an attempt to grip with his chakra but his nerves were shot and he couldn't get a clear mark on any of them. Grimacing, Mitsuki whirled around started to desperately grab at his backpack. He'd been prepared for the worst case scenario but the question was; could he actually manage to deploy it in time?

Finally, he managed to get a hand around the deploy chord and the chute exploded outwards of his bag. His descent was roughly brought to a stop and the amber-eyed boy sighed in relief. As he looked back at the cliff face, he could just make out the expression of the grizzled Uchiha, who was clearly pissed off. There was a sudden whirl of wind and Sasuke grabbed him out of mid-air and in the next instant, they were back on the cliff. The expression on the older man's face was one of placid anger and Mitsuki found himself flinching unconsciously a little bit. Even though he'd been taught from a young age to never back down in a fight or argument, even against those outranking him, the Uchiha clan head scared him to death. Maybe it was the combination of the purple Rinnegan and blood-red Sharingan, but the piercing glare had always left him feeling shaken after being in its direct gaze. After a few moments of that frozen stare, Sasuke tutted and turned his eyes away. "If you're done nearly dying, let's keep moving. We need to gain some Intel before we head back to Konoha." The tall man spun and started crunching off along the snow again, not even giving the boy any further comment.

After a few moments of pondering, Mitsuki pounded along the snowy path after the older shinobi, being a bit more careful with his steps this time. He still wasn't used to wearing the heavy duty snow boots and it was limiting his movement more than he was used to. They were so clunky in comparison to his preferred sandals and light robes, so it felt like he was being completely restrained. As he stumbled precariously through the snow, Sasuke suddenly flickered and disappeared. Mitsuki's eyes flashed around as they tried to track the man's movement, but he was simply too fast. Suddenly the snow exploded in a spray as an unconscious body slammed into the snow in front of him. He lept back, katana drawn, his eyes trained on the body that was lying still in the broken snow.

Cautiously approaching the body, Mitsuki made his way closer to the immobile figure before he jolted in shock. Sasuke was suddenly by his side, hands roughly pulling through the body's jacket. Once he'd gone through the jacket, the raven-haired man reached down and patted down the pants and suddenly muttered a small "Aha," as he pulled a scroll out of the man's pocket. He spread it out and Mitsuki took a peak over his shoulder, trying to discern exactly what was so important about the seemingly day-to-day item.

On the map was a clearly marked map of the various elemental territories, except instead of the usual markings for each nation, it was far less detailed than those he was used to. Sasuke, however, seemed to be ignoring the Elemental Nations completely and was focussing on the other side of the map, areas that Mitsuki had never seen before. There were clearly marked areas of villages and towns and even larger sized ones. Even as a kid, he'd never really thought of the territories outside their borders, but ever since he'd been promoted to a Chūnin, there'd be whispers going around about the outer nations. Once the Hokage had been murdered, those had spiked into an extreme overdrive, with everyone in the village having their own theories over what was going on outside their borders. The stories varied from huge golems of stone, to tiny demons so most of them could be taken with a grain of salt. What could be agreed, however, was the fact that there was a genuine threat to their peace outside the borders. And with the retrieval of this map, it seemed that it was more than just a rumour.

Sasuke rolled the scroll back up and stood up, brushing the snow off his knees. He nudged the body on the ground and looked over to Mitsuki with an unreadable expression on his face. "So, what should we do with this then?" It always creeped out Mitsuki just how clinical the senior Uchiha could be when it came to missions, contrasting the much more emotional Sarada.

"I… guess we should leave him. He never saw me or you so it's not like he can say who was responsible for it. So, leave him behind?" Sasuke stood silently and dipped his head in agreement, before pulling out a bottle from the satchel on his back. As he uncorked it, a strong smell of alcohol wafted past Mitsuki's nose and he balked. He'd hated the smell since he was a kid and he persistently avoided being around those who were intoxicated for that very reason. It seemed very out of character for someone like _the _Sasuke Uchiha to have a bottle of sake at the ready. Suddenly the tall man started to pour the alcohol all over the unconscious body and kneeled down again, tipping a bit around the man's mouth, forcefully mashing it around in his mouth, before tilting his head to the side and let it dribble out. "Um, sir, what are you doing?"

"Making sure it looks like this guy got drunk, fell over and knocked himself out. Covers our trail and makes it look like we weren't here." Mitsuki nodded, the pieces falling into place. Espionage was an important part of the modern shinobi's work. More and more often they were required to be less like soldiers and rely more on actual stealth. It was borderline ANBU work, but it was work nonetheless. After finishing his job thoroughly incriminating the man, Sasuke got back up and turned to Mitsuki. "Let's move out before one of his friends come along and spot us." With another nod of agreement, the two started to make their way to the edge of the cliff. Mitsuki looked at the jōnin for advice for what to do next when the man suddenly bit his thumb and smacked it into the ground, a gesture he recognised as the summoning jutsu. A single hawk appeared and Sasuke lept aboard before indicating that Mitsuki do the same.

Once the pair had boarded the large bird, they soared down the face of the cliff. Mitsuki closed his eye, not particularly enthused by the rapidly encroaching ground. After seemingly dropping the entire distance of the mountain, they lurched upwards and started to fly in a significantly less vertical direction. As he looked over at his leader, the sky-haired boy noticed what could only be called a smirk on the man's face. So this was the rumoured playful side that the Uchiha had, often discussed but rarely seen. The bird powerfully flapped it's huge wingspan and they shot through the sky in the direction of their home.

"So Mitsuki," started the older Uchiha. The younger shinobi yelped, startled by the sudden break in the silence, before looking over at Sasuke. "What are you going to do once you get back to the village?" Mitsuki frowned, completely taken off guard by the amicable, not to mention personal, direction that the conversation was apparently going in.

"Uh, well, after sleeping in snow and cheap inns for a few weeks, it'll be nice to sleep in a comfier bed." Sasuke nodded with a neutral expression on his face, a face that looked like it'd been forever set in stone. "Then I'll catch up with some of my classmates and probably eat some proper food that isn't rations." The man closed his head and nodded his head gently.

"Yes, it would be nice to have some proper food for once. A meal with Sakura and the children would be a nice way to unwind from this frozen hellhole." Mitsuki snorted in agreement; the mountain and surrounding territories had been stressful for the Konoha residents. Excluding the weird weather of late, it was usually pretty warm in the village, so to be exposed to cold every day had been a bit of a shock. "Then I might go to the inn with Na-" Suddenly the warm expression on the Uchiha's face was replaced with one very similar to the icy wastes they'd just left. He turned away and looked forward, not saying another word. Mitsuki sighed; he knew that the man had probably been missing his friend, but the fact that he'd avoided the topic of the Hokage, or anything to do with the events that had led to their mission had made it clear.

This was going to be a very long bird trip home.

Temari raised her head as Shikadai came back in, kicking off his boots at the front door. She'd been sitting on the front porch talking to Gaara on the phone. She smiled at her son and raised a finger in greeting. As she wrapped up the call she looked at her son and shook her head in frustration. "Seriously Shikadai, what am I going to do with you?" Grabbing him by his shoulders, she rubbed her knuckles on top of his head with a smirk as he wriggled around under her grip.

"Mum, c'mon!" he grumbled as he rolled out and held up his hands to fend off another attack. Temari felt a pang of sadness as she saw her late husband in him once more before shaking it off. Shikadai however, picked up on it and stood up quickly. "I'll cook dinner tonight, what do you want?"

Temari shook her head. "No way am I letting you cook dinner again, last time you burnt the rice," she laughed dismissively.

Shikadai looked hurt as he tried to argue, "C'mon it was a beginners-"

"No, I'll cook dinner. " She stood up and stretched out, her arms clicking as she stretched out. These days she felt a lot stiffer than she remembered. Maybe it was the constant rain. She baulked, _god that makes me sound old. _Shrugging off her aging, she walked inside with Shikadai who was still going on about all the reasons that he should be cooking but she continued to wave him off as she started cutting up some of the carrots. The two chuckled as Temari mocked her sodden son, who was trying to justify how he was both wet and had a definite fist imprint on his jaw.

"See this is why you don't antagonise an Uchiha." Temari smirked at the arrogance of her son, glad to see that he was getting out of his shell that he'd slipped into since Shikamaru's death. The warmth of the water in the sink spread through her body as Shikadai talked on about the day's activities, his time hanging out with Himawari and her sister, talking with his friends, getting jōnin lessons.

"And that's what we decided to do for Boruto," he finished with a nod, his eyes glittering with anticipation. Temari nodded, wiping off her hands.

"It's good to see how far you would go for a friend, reminds me of your father." At the mention of being similar to his dad, Shikadai looked a little sad, but at the same time hopeful. He'd always looked up to Shikamaru and copied quite a few of his mannerisms, but it always amused Temari that he'd picked up her attitude and hard-working nature, something that had taken Shikamaru years.

After they sat down to eat dinner, Shikadai was twirling around a vegetable, looking like he wanted to talk about something. "Hey, mum?"

"Yes?"

"Was dad really the hero everyone talked about?"

"Yes, easily."

"How'd you meet him?"

"Oh, we never told you did we?" Shikadai looked quizzical but intrigued at the enticing line.

"Nope, you always put it off."

Temari cracked her neck and leant back against the wall. She could still see it vividly, the Chūnin arena, Shikamaru's techniques. The memory that once had ached with the pain of defeat was so fulfilling in her mind now.

"Well it all started a long time ago during the Konoha Chūnin exams…"


	3. Friends and Mentors

_Edited: 31/10/15_

* * *

><p>The lake was quiet at this time of year, so it was the perfect place for any genin or Chūnin looking to hone their skills in ninjutsu or taijutsu. Boruto had taken to spending most of his days there, practicing combining his shuriken techniques. He'd even been trying to incorporate his nature changes into it. The effects of this were quite evident as trees everywhere were torn asunder and his shuriken laid everywhere. Boruto himself lay exhausted in a heap on the edge of the lake. Scratches covered his body and his chakra levels were dangerously low, so low that he could feel his heartbeat racing out of control, pounding uncontrollably. The stress that he'd put his body through was ridiculous and the strain left every muscle screaming out in agony.<p>

The boy gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain. When he sat up, sweat was dripping down off his forehead onto the surface of the lake. The glance he got of his features scared him. It was an angry face, one so filled with rage that he looked away. "Is this what Dad warned me about when I was younger?" he whispered, his voice terse. As he brushed the sweaty locks out of his eyes, he stood up shakily, trying to get back into his taijutsu stance, before he sank to one knee from the pain. The weights on his arms were exhausting him, lactic acid tearing through all his muscles. He wanted to tear them off and just sleep, but he couldn't. What he'd learnt from years of watching Lee is that if he failed, he needed to punish himself by training even harder.

"Now that I'm out of chakra, I should try to build my endurance." Again, he stood up and started to run, pushing himself through the agonising pain in his legs. As he completed the first lap, he felt the presence of another person, someone trying hard to not be seen. He ignored them, and he continued to run around the large lake. The harder he ran, the harder he found it to get enough air into his lungs. He came to a stop by the lakes edge and gasped desperately for air. Sitting down heavily Boruto hardly noticed the approach of the mystery figure as he tried to catch his breath. The pallid skin tone showed just who it was as the other boy walked slowly over.

Boruto grunted a greeting, before taking a swig from his canteen. Inojin nodded back before sitting down next to him. The two sat quietly for a while, before Inojin reached out and put a hand on top of the other boy's arm. The boy's eyes met for a moment and Boruto looked away quickly with a scowl on his face. It was like the boy could get into his mind without any need for jutsu.

"Boruto, you need to take it easy he quietly whispered. Inojin had sat down and was lying back on the grass with his deep green eyes following the clouds, a habit he'd picked up from his time spent around Shikadai. "You're hurting yourself and you're shutting us out." Boruto shrugged and looks at the sky, not wanting to meet the other boy's eyes. "You have to stop this, if not for Sarada and the others, for your dad," A gentle smile flickered onto his face. "Dad always tells me that when he was younger, he never had anyone he cared about nor trusted, especially after his brother died. Then he met your dad and Sakura and he realised that just because you've lost someone important, it doesn't mean that your life is less without them."

He smiled and it's a bright, happy one, full of warmth that pierced Boruto's walls of defence he'd put up, elaborately dismantling them. He grunted softly and started to detach his weights, too exhausted to continue training for the moment. The heavy training weights crunched into the ground with a hearty thump. Inojin's raised his eyebrow at the sound, underestimating the weight contained with the subtle braces. A faint memory of his mother talking about Rock Lee and his weights made him realise why Boruto is training with those weights. He knot his brow again, not impressed by the implication.

"Inojin, you need to let me train, alright? You can train with me, but don't try to stop me," Boruto stated quietly and for a moment Inojin missed the former bouncy and determined energy that the boy had, but he kept his mind on the task at hand.

"Fine, if you won't stop training, then I'm going to join you," smiled Inojin, trying to bring some sort of levity to the conversation. "Let's practice our taijutsu, Sensei has been slacking on my taijutsu training of late and I'd like to actually have a decent spar." For years, he'd struggled with his taijutsu, being constantly outclassed by Shikadai's speed and Chōchō's raw strength, so he'd been training on the side with his mother and father, when weren't out on missions. Whilst his dad was more of a hand-to-hand fighter than his mum, he still wasn't on the level of someone like Lee, so he'd been training with anyone who'd allow him for a while. It was only recently that he'd finally started to get some result. During his Chūnin exam attempt he could have shown it off, but he'd deliberately kept it under wraps, relying instead on his clan's jutsu.

Boruto on the other hand was well known for taking after his father's raw form of taijutsu, utilising his large chakra reserves to abuse the Hyūga techniques, beating anything in close range and using his own form of the Gentle Fist. He didn't quite have the precision to use the correct form without a byakugan. He instead used swift, closed fist blows to both physically injure, as well as occasionally close the tenketsu of the opponent.

So when the two started to face off and Inojin found himself facing one powerful blonde haired boy, he was instantly on the defensive, slapping back the fists, trying to avoid any shots getting through his defence, dreading the dangerous chance that the fists could hit him. As one fist came in, he dropped swiftly below it and swept his legs across, tripping the other boy, who disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Not wanting to risk being caught by a blow, he attempted to get back to his feet by pushing up into a handstand, only to be caught by another assault with a sharp kick and he found himself being knocked backwards onto the surface of the lake, where he plunged straight below the surface.

Standing on the surface, Boruto remained in a defensive stance, wary of a rebuttal attack from below, but Inojin surfaced a few metres away from him, crawling out onto the surface, hacking up water and groaning. Boruto walked across and lifted him to his feet. "You lost, Inojin. Better luck next time." He turned his back on the other boy and walked off into the forest, grabbing his weights.

All that remained behind was Inojin and the gentle sound of a breeze in the trees. The boy stood there for a while, before a few drops of rain started to splash on the surface of the water around him, prompting him to take shelter under a tree. Sighing, he realised that his efforts to coax out his friend was unsuccessful. He could only hope that Sarada or Shikadai would have more luck. Wringing out his long hair, he started to tiredly make his way back towards the village.

Sarada was eating dango inside the store when she saw Boruto come past, hands shoved so forcefully in his pockets that one would think he was trying to rip them open. Quickly getting up, she grabbed the remaining two dumplings and jogged to his side, holding them up in greeting.

"Hey Boruto, are you hungry?" She smiled, hoping that he'd join her at the least for some food. It'd been ages since she's actually seen him eat anything substantial, be it ramen or other. He glanced at her for a bare second, before shrugging and grabbing one of them. As he quietly chewed on it, she noticed just how scratched up he was.

"Woah, how hard have you been training? You look like you've been through a shredder." The glare she got in return was so cold and out of character that she actually recoiled for a moment before regaining her composure. She tilted her glasses slightly and smiled, "Well, you can't improve that much by yourself, you need a training companion. You should come back and train with the rest of the team. It's not the same without you." The sombre note seemed to get his attention and he glanced back at her, a faint trace of his former personality stretched across his face.

"Yeah. I miss it too. Tell Konohomaru that I'll train with you guys tomorrow," he said quietly, before flicking his dango stick at her forehead. She flinched before punching him in the arm, causing her to flinch again when she made contact with the… oddly hard aspect of his forearm

"You ass," she laughed, "What the hell do you have under your jacket?" Another shrug, the façade coming straight back up.

"I got some weights made for me, like the one's Lee used to use."

"But why? You're already really quick, why would you need to be faster?" It's occurred to her before to use the weights, but considering her tendency to use her Sharingan in conjunction with her techniques made her pretty fast already. Her focus on genjutsu had come in handy many times for their team, most notably during an operation, shortly after they'd become Chūnin. She'd forced an opposing team under a large scale genjutsu which had left the incapacitated for the better part of a week.

His eyes still faced forwards, not meeting hers and he quietly murmured "I need to be the fastest and strongest I can possibly be! I can't just sit on my hands and hope to be stronger, I need to train and work myself to the bone."

"Boruto, you know that seeking revenge isn't going to help you. Look at papa, he learnt nothing from it and I'm sure your da-," Before she'd even finished saying it, he grabbed her shirt and glared at her, anger lighting his eyes.

"Don't you dare talk to me about what he would and wouldn't want!" It was like his voice was filled with ice. She stood back up and didn't back down.

"Every time we talked, he told us about how he didn't want hatred and how hatred was the enemy of all, he wouldn't want this. There's got to be another way Boruto."

"Give it up, Sarada; I don't have time for that now." With that, he jumped up onto the roof, bouncing away into the distance, heading towards the city behind the stone faces of the Hokage. She groaned in frustration, before dusting herself off. That was a disaster.

Head down, she walked slowly through the village to her home, where he mother and father were sitting on the porch, having a small lunch together, whilst her little sister Hikari was running around in the garden, throwing kunai and generally having a fun time of it. Katsuro was quietly reading a book with his legs kicked up on the couch and he nodded a greeting to Sarada as she entered. "Hey Mama, hey Papa, hello Katsuro." After being formal she quickly ruffled her little sister's hair with a smile on her face, before planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey Sarada, how was your day?" Sakura was bright as always, though it looked like she was tired from the shift at the hospital. Ever since the funeral, her parents had been more composed than ever before. The death of their close friend hit the both of them hard and she knew that they were both grieving in their own ways.

Sarada supposes it's because they never expected Naruto to be the first out of them to die, even before Kakashi. Her father was even more introspective since the death and her mother's smile was just a little more subdued. It was intensely saddening to the girl to see her parents so lost and sad, so she'd tried her best to keep her positivity.

"It was okay, Mama." Sakura's curious expression cut through Sarada's vague explanation and with a sigh she started to explain.

"I tried to talk to Boruto about this stupid revenge he wants, but he's just so focussed on it that I can't break him out of it."

The look that her father and mother passed between each other was so evident that even Katsuro raised his eyes from the book he was reading. It peeved Sarada that at times he acts like the older sibling when in reality, he was 5 years younger than her. Where does he get off having eyes like a hawk anyway? She had to either wear glasses or use her Sharingan just to maintain any semblance of decent vision.

"Sarada, did Boruto specifically say he's going to seek revenge for Naruto?" Sasuke's tone was calm, but there was a distinct sense of urgency to it.

"Yeah, he said he wants to hunt down the shinobi who killed his dad and that he's gonna train really hard to do it," she mumbled, seeming as if she was regretting saying anything about it. Before she'd even finished talking, Sasuke stood up dramatically. His cloak flicked around him in a sweep. Sarada mentally grinned; this was playing out just as she'd wanted.

"I'll see you all at dinner; I'm going to go talk to Boruto." Her father was forever brash, never able to shake that old sense of arrogance that had plagued him for many years. With a shrug, she moved over to the couch, shoving her brother to the side. He grunted and shouldered her back, before settling back in. She always enjoyed the time she had at home, because the Uchiha's were quiet. They lived in a peaceful way; training together, doing their jobs and keeping the house orderly. It's definitely more than can be said for the Uzumaki's, who were renowned for the chaos that regularly burst out and their loud righteous behaviour.

Well, they were.

She sighed inwardly. That got sad really quick.

Sakura had been quietly twiddling her hair since Sasuke left, before getting up and putting the tea-towel she'd been holding in her left hand on the table. "I've got to go to the hospital, I'll be home later this evening. Sarada, look after your brother and sister, I don't want to come home to a disaster, alright?" She nodded and her mother left after grabbing her work bag. Grunting, Sarada set to sweeping up the dust that had collected around the front doorway and started to clean the house, whilst her brother amusedly jeered at her. It was not long before he found himself armed with a mop and a red tinted glare from his sister.

Sasuke strode through the village, his cloak billowing around behind him. As he powered through the village, he found himself going over all the differences from when he was young, a habit of his since he'd returned to the village. The buildings are all so different from when he had originally walked through them alongside the rest of Team 7. After the destruction of the village at the hands of Nagato so many years ago, the reconstruction effort had left the village with an entirely new façade. A glance up at the stone faces; of his best friend and brother reminds him that the village was more than just a village anymore, as he looked at the towering buildings that make up the skyline.

He grunted before continuing on, ignoring some of the sideways looks he got as he walked through the village. They'd slowed down over the years, as he'd proven his dedication to restoring his honour and protecting Naruto's dream. He once thought that he should take up Danzo's mantle and guard the village from the shadows, but some well-placed advice from Naruto had convinced him that he should guard the village in the light. So he stood guard over the village and had done so proud for the past 14 years, working tirelessly to maintain trust and safety within the village.

As the time had passed, he'd gained a lot of respect with the village, especially among his former classmates who'd been the longest warming up to him due to their close proximity with him during his "darkness" era. With time, they'd all accepted that he'd reformed and were close with him once again. However, (mainly among some shinobi families), he was still regarded as a man not to be trusted. It was for this very reason that he'd rebuffed the offer to take Naruto's place as Hokage after the man's death, simply because he wasn't the ideal man to unite the village, instead suggesting Konohamaru, who was well on his way to becoming a man regarded by many as a leader of men and extremely hard worker. He'd trained the offspring of both the Uchiha and Uzumaki with brilliant results during their first Chūnin exam attempts. Still, there was a lot of pressure upon him to take up the Hokage mantle, and he still wasn't sure if he'd completely rebuke it.

Sasuke smirked and nodded a greeting to Tenten as he passed by her weapon store. She grimaced and flipped him off, eliciting a chuckle as he walked off towards the Uzumaki residence. If he could find Boruto and talk to him, then maybe he could make the difference. As he wandered, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of déjà vu, but with an odd sense of inversion. So long ago, Kakashi had tried to warn him about the dangers of revenge, yet here he was planning to repeat the same speech upon the next generation. An inward groan reverberated through him; he was getting old. Not even 37 and he felt old as hell.

Flicking away the age anxiety, he found himself in front of the Uzumaki residence and smiled sadly at the carved wooden sign out the front. It had been done by Naruto and Boruto as a bonding exercise when the boy was 6. A gentle rap on the front door brought forth a tall girl with dark blue hair to the front door and her eyes widened when she looked up a little at him. The look on her face was one he hasn't seen in a while. Resignation, tinged with sadness.

"Hey Uncle Sasuke. Did you want to see mama?" Himawari was usually a bouncing ball of energy, taking after her father so much that he struggles to understand how _Hinata_ manages (_managed_) looking after the two of them. He nodded and entered behind her, slipping off his boots at the entrance. She guided him through the corridors and he realised with a jolt that she was taking him to the bedroom. She rapped three times on the door before leaving him alone and he entered. What he saw inside jolted him to his core.

Hinata sat inside, wrapped in one of Naruto's Hokage cloaks, quietly staring at something in her hands. Sasuke entered the room silently and walked over to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder, which elicited no response whatsoever, just more silence. She didn't even move at his touch, a fact that disturbed him more than anything. She just sat, silent, barely moving, and her breathing barely audible. If he couldn't sense her chakra, he could almost mistake her for a statue.

"Hinata," he speaks finally, his words so quiet, as if to avoid disturbing the peace, the fake serenity. "You need to come out of here. You're daughters need you, your son too." For a few moments, the words hung in the air, before the woman twisted violently. "There is more in this world that needs you, Naruto is gone but we need to live on."

It was evident that he'd said the wrong thing as she twisted out of his grip and faced him, eyes raw and bloodshot; her hair tangled and wiry.

"How dare you. HOW DARE YOU!" The escalation in sound caused Sasuke to recoil, actually feeling shocked at the verbal onslaught. "The only man I loved, the only person I could ever love is gone, and you have the audacity to tell me that there's more than him?" The venom dripping from her tone was so shocking that Sasuke had to mentally remind himself that this is Hinata he was talking to, not Ino or Tenten. "Every day I wake up, only to find that he's not there, not there looking in my eyes and telling me how beautiful I am. When I try to cook breakfast for the children, he's not there telling Boruto stories from his rookie days, not telling Himawari how strong she's getting, or running around with Mina singing songs at the top of his lungs. I would have thought you Sasuke, out of anyone, would understand how much that hurts." Her words cut deep into Sasuke's usually impenetrable armour, pushing him beyond shock and into anger.

"I can't even make my daughters breakfast without falling to my knees." The last bit comes out as little more than a whisper.

"Hinata, calm down, this isn't helping ma-"

"Shut up, Sasuke." Her eyes were so wide and desperate that it filled him with hurt. "I can't help save my son from what you went down, so it's up to you; now let me mourn in peace." It startled him that she'd perceived what he's here to do, even in her dazed state. He nodded quickly, stood up and left, holding his hand on the doorway and casting one more lasting glance at the woman. It hurt to see such a strong woman so broken, but it showed him just how deeply her love for Naruto ran.

With his back to the door, he felt his own emotions fluctuate, the pain from his friend's death coming to the surface. A small tear formed in his right eye and dribbled down his face, splashing on the floor. After sobbing gently for a few moments, he regained his composure, gently dabbing his eyes as he tried to stem the flow.

He never realised how much he'd relied on that man. How many times that he'd slipped backwards, taking a few tentative steps back towards his anger in stressful situations, only to find that man beside him, and reminding him of just how good he was, how good he could be.

Himawari wandered back past him with a sympathetic look on her face, those whiskers on her face so similar to her father and brother. Groaning, he stood up to his full height and looked across at Himawari and her sister, both who were looking on with their small eyes. "Boruto's out the back, he's sitting on the patio." She left after that, cooing gently, trying to cheer up her young sister, looking so much older than she had any right too. The girl was only 12, yet she looks like a tired teenager. A tired adult. It's something he hasn't seen since he was a teenager himself.

Sasuke slowly walked out through the house, running his hands upon the photos on the wall. Naruto's wedding, Boruto's birth, Hinata and Naruto holding hands whilst standing on a lake reflecting a beautiful sunset. So many memories, so many happy times, yet none of the remaining people in the house reflected them anymore. They merely looked like sallow versions of themselves, hollow empty caricatures.

Turning the corner to the end of the hall, he saw a shattered photo frame on the ground. Picking it up, he ignored the stab of pain as the sharpened glass sliced through the rough skin of his hand. The photo was of Naruto with Boruto sitting on one shoulder, Himawari on the other and Mina in his arms, and Hinata leaning against him. The smile was so full of life that it almost makes him want to crush it in his hand. In that moment Sasuke was so utterly thankful for his family, his children and his loving wife that he felt all that emotion surging once more, but he decided that wouldn't set a good precedent for the conversation with Boruto. Steeling himself, he opened the door, his bloody hand leaving a mark across the handle, and finds the teenage Uzumaki lying on the lawn, lazily spinning a kunai around his finger.

He crouched down in front of Boruto and roughly snatched the kunai from his hands, spinning it around before clenching it in his fist. _He has his own weighted kunai. _Sasuke threw it down into the ground before sitting down in front of the boy. The look Boruto gave him was one of disdain which something not entirely unexpected. Sasuke didn't even wait for the smart assed comment to come, simply opting to go straight to the heart of the matter.

"Quit now." The words came out of his mouth so quickly that he felt a flash of his old anger shimmer in them. He immediately shut down the pleasure that he got from it and looked in the younger man's eyes.

"All that will come out of this selfish obsession is pain. Pain for yourself when you realise that one's man blood is not enough." He paused for emphasis, before continuing. "It'll be pain for your mother when you are eventually hunted down because your revenge has consumed you so wholeheartedly and she is left alone again. Revenge is a drug, Boruto, with the most violent of addictions." Sasuke rolled his shoulders and his rinnegan and mangyeko Sharingan activated, taking in the boy's shudder. "These eyes, they show my hatred and pain. Do not pursue this path; you will gain nothing but loss." He closed his eyes again and allowed the dōjutsu to fade away. Quietly, he got back to his feet, brushing the dust off himself and began to leave when he heard the boy respond quietly.

"I won't make the same mistakes you do. I'll do it better." Sasuke froze and looked back at the boy whose amethyst eyes were defiant and cold. It was like looking into a mirror that showed his past self, furious eyes and all. There's so much of himself in Boruto right now that he wouldn't be surprised if the boy started ranting about restoring his clan's honour. Of course, he didn't, merely sitting back down, eyes turned upwards at the sky.

"Boruto, if you do this, I will have to chase you down. None of us will let you make the mistake of pursuing the cycle of hatred. Did you learn nothing from Naruto?" It seemed like today was Sasuke's day of faux-pas as the look of anger showed him the error he'd made. In a flash the boy had the kunai drawn and launched it quickly, straight at the older man, who caught it effortlessly. He gritted his teeth; he'd never had the way with words that someone like Naruto or Shikamaru did.

"I see. I'll be watching you Boruto." With that the elder Uchiha left, knowing that nothing he could say today would be able to stop the boy. The repeat, the sheer fact that this is happening again infuriated him all the way to his core. As he walked hurriedly back through the village, he was already planning on what he needed to do next. There were some shinobi he needed to see, people who he swore he would no longer see.

He groaned. Sakura would not be at all impressed by where this was going, or where he had to go. A faint throbbing from his hand also reminded him to ask his wife for a quick patch up, preferably before he told her about his plans. _What a pain_.


	4. Vertigo

Sarada stood alone on top of the Hokage tower, her crimson eyes panning over the higher village. So much life up there, yet hardly anyone from the lower village would venture up there, deeming it be the home of boring civilians with boring lives. They ran back and forth all day, doing such menial things and being caught up in them that they barely even thought about the aid of the lower village, the ones who did the actual work.

The combined efforts of the Sixth and Seventh Hokages had improved the nation's technology and brought it forwards much further than anyone could have ever expected. However, there was still a desire for people to do the dirty work, to go further and work harder than the merchants or businesspeople. Most of the time, shinobi were used to fight off bandits, slave merchants and other sorts of undesirable types. Whilst they no longer were employed for the usual assassination or intelligence missions, more often than not, shinobi were still assigned with the dirty work that the civilians couldn't bring themselves to deal with.

Sarada had been sent on a few B rank missions since her promotion to Chūnin and spent a lot of time training, never wanting her talents to be underutilised or undertrained. Mostly it'd been simple groups of not very talented bandits, committing petty crimes or threatening heads of small villages throughout the Fire Country. Although, on one notable occasion, she'd been sent out with Boruto to take out a decently ranked bandit who'd been attacking farmers for no reason other than he liked to kill people. He was a fan of his long sword, which made it difficult for Boruto (who was such a fan of close quarters combat) to keep up, but Sarada had stayed back and kept the man off-guard with shuriken until Boruto could find an opening.

They'd managed to bring him back in chains and had been paid well for it, bringing a bright grin to both of their faces and hearty congratulations from their parents. She smiled a little at the memory, before clenching her fist, thinking of how different Boruto was now. _That idiot tried to strike Papa! Didn't he remember all the stories were heard about our dads? _After all of the teens had tried to talk Boruto around, they had met up and discussed their various attempts to talk Boruto around, as well as their various failures. She had read out the letter her dad had left her before he took off, in which he talked about his attempt to talk to Boruto and how he was going to find someone that "would fix the problem". Whilst Sarada had a lot of faith in her father, sometimes his tendency to run off without telling anyone what he was doing was a source of frustration. She knew that he'd probably come through, but she wished he'd at least be less secretive.

Inojin had reported his disappointing failure with a look of frustration in his eyes as his hand ran along his bruises that lined his face. Shikadai had had a sheepish look on his face when he reported that he'd been dragged off to deal with family politics, as there was a planned visit from the Kazekage soon to show support for Konoha during its period of unrest before the choosing of a new Hokage. He'd promised to try and drag Boruto along to talk to his uncle, but he'd muttered something about how tiresome it would be, before seeing a pointed glare directed at him. He'd shut up pretty quick after that. The group had split off after that leaving Sarada alone with Inojin who looked a bit dazed, and more than a little bit contemplative.

"Do you think that Boruto is planning on leaving the village to get revenge?" His big eyes had bored into hers, making her feel almost a little uncomfortable. Inojin, whilst quite emotional like his mother, did tend to show off a cold almost emotional side when he would think about things overly hard. She'd felt a chill run through her body at the thought of Boruto leaving the village, not only because of her feelings for him, but because he'd been one of her oldest friends, knowing him as long as she could remember. A shrug and a nonchalant shake of the head had been her response and he'd left in a puff of smoke, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

She sighed a little and decided to go looking for Boruto again, if he hasn't been found by one of the others. Deciding to visit the place where they'd always hang out when they were younger, Sarada turned and jumped off the building roof, heading towards her destination. The clearing around the place was surrounded with a barbed wire fence, obviously designed to keep out civilians and young shinobi, but she ignored it, leaping up and over, landing lightly on her feet, before straightening her clothes with a smirk. She'd always excelled with her acrobatics and they'd only gotten better since she'd awakened her Sharingan.

As she walked through the overgrown path, she lamented over days past, of times spent sparring with Boruto before she heard a slight crunch and saw the slightest movement from the corner of her eyes and spins, whilst ducking quickly, narrowly avoiding the kunai as it soared over her head. She reacted in kind, throwing one of her own, aiming for where they'd been launched from mere seconds ago, but the shadow was already gone, flashing back in front of her, blonde hair flying around like a maddening halo. Another smirk twisted across her mouth and she lashed her arm out, grabbing onto his jacket, before kicking off with her feet, causing him to smack into the ground hard. Taking the momentary lapse into account, she activated her Sharingan, and the two tomoe flashed as the blood red seeps into her eye. Boruto grimaced as he stood up before recognising the smug look on her face and frowned.

"Fuck, Sarada, I could have hurt you," he said, worry evident in his voice.

She laughed out loud at that, "You say that like you ever could." Smirking, she adjusted her glasses, before continuing, "Face it, you couldn't, even if you wanted to." A warm smile spread across her face. They hadn't bantered like this since before he found out that his father had been murdered.

Shaking his head in frustration, he looked into her red eyes. "So, what do you want? You obviously came to say something, so why not say it?" His tone was stressed and it was evident that he was not interested in anything that she had to say.

"I want to spar with you, let's train like we used to." The words came out before she'd even registered what she was saying, "If you're so determined to do this, then just let me in. Don't do this alone." Inwardly she flinched, knowing how much hell her parents would rain down upon her if they heard her saying these things, especially downright treasonous thoughts. Especially when her dad was planning something to stop Boruto going down this road.

Boruto laughed at that and then smirked before he spoke in a dry tone, "Oh really? So you're not gonna threaten me like your dad, or try to convince me with friendship like Inojin? You've just given up on keeping me off this path?"

"Well, if there's anything I learnt from our parents and their stories, it's that trying to keep Papa in the village did nothing. Maybe if Mama had accompanied him, he wouldn't have fallen so far, or hurt so many people. So I'm here to keep your head straight, and I'm sure we can convince Inojin and Shikadai if we tried."

He shrugged at that. "Your funeral. But the instant you weigh me down, I'm ditching you, we clear?" She gave a nonchalant nod in response, before looking in his eyes.

"Big talk from the guy who's currently weighed down with ridiculous amounts of steel.." The playful tone signalled a return to the less tense atmosphere and he smiled and it was so genuine that she felt her heart flutter a little, before forcing it down. _Not the time to be thinking about romantic feelings. _Whilst she scolded herself mentally, Boruto grabbed his kunai from the bushes and tossed it towards her, hilt first. She caught it awkwardly, thrown off by the odd weighting..

"Weighted kunai?"

He nodded, his grin showing off how pleased he was with himself. "Yep, based it off Gramp's design, and made it so that I can eventually use it to do the Flying Raijin." The smugness in his tone was almost enough to make her grit her teeth in frustration. This wasn't the first time Boruto had tried to mimic things that his father and grandfather had done, though it seemed like he's been having a bit more success than with some of his past endeavours.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" She glanced over the blade, memorising its design, the longer pointed blade and the reduced wait in the hilt. Making sure to commit it memory, she handed it back to him, content that she knows enough about it to counter it if the time comes. "Is this all you've been working on?"

He shook his head and presented his heavily calloused palm, and set his face in a pained expression as he apparently attempted to visualise something. It startled her when she noticed the sparks coming from his hand as he channels more energy into it, his face contorting and minute droplets of sweat starting to ride to the surface of his skin. Grinning, he poured more chakra into his hand and the sparks begin to increase before eventually he relaxed and the sparks fade away and he slumped, looking absolutely exhausted and sinking down onto one knee. She raises her eyebrow delicately.

"That's new."

Whilst she says it with an impressed tone, she quietly puzzled over the attempt to learn the new technique. _Is it because he thinks that it'll make him stronger?_ _Does he think that using that will give him the edge he needs in a fight? He doesn't even have a Sharingan to counter out the negative effects of the Chidori. It's interesting to know that he has an affinity for Lightning Release, though. _Boruto tilted his head gently, looking at her, his amethyst eyes piercing through her red ones. "You're worrying about the side effects of it, aren't you?"

She's stunned that he read her face so well, Papa had spent so long emphasising to her the importance of being able to disguise one's emotions when trying to get information. _I'm sorry Papa. _Shrugging slightly, she made a gesture with her hand. "A bit, though I know there are ways to get around the Chidori's weakness." _But it takes a long time reach that stage and the Sharingan makes it easier, _her internal monologue whispered, but she refused to say it out loud, knowing that he'd probably already accounted for that. She reached up and straightened her glasses again, the slightly skewed frames causing her to grimace. Years of wear and tear have warped the frames, but she likes to keep them as a sentimental symbol, not wanting to let go of the memories.

It was time to make the jump between planning and putting it into action.

"Fine, let's see how your new tricks are going for you, Boru," she laughed with a twitching at the corner of her mouth, bringing back her childhood nickname for him. She raised a hand and pointed at him.

"Show us what you got."

Inojin sat on his windowsill and listened to the sounds of his parents arguing nothing at all. Sai had dropped a plate and Ino had called him an idiot. There wasn't anything substantial to the argument. It was a completely mundane fight and they seemed to be laughing now. He sighed and wondered what to do. There was a sudden squeal and giggle from inside which Inojin took as a signal to find something to do.

Eager to get away from his parents being affectionate to each other, he jumped down and walked to the gate. He was surprised, but not unhappy to finding his teammates standing there. He nodded his head in his usual greeting to Chōchō and Shikadai, who were both looking miserable. Inojin frowned, looking from one to the other, "What's wrong with you guys? You look like you've been through a washing machine." It's true, both of the teens were soaked through, but he couldn't recall hearing any rain. Chōchō shrugged with a look of anger her face.

"We came back from the outskirts of the village where a storm is brewing, it's just passing over the village now, and it should start pouring any second. Can we chill here?" Talking with Chōchō is always a one way road with no stops. Either you go with her flow, or you get bulldozed over. Inojin sighed, before running a hand through his shaggy hair. He hadn't tied it up because he was cleaning, so he whipped a hair tie off his hand and tied it back into its ponytail.

"As much as I love having you guys around home, it's been one of those nights and the folks are getting a little… touchy feely." The two nodded their heads, having been caught in the situation a few times before. "How about we go hang out somewhere in the village? It's not really great weather for training." Shikadai shrugged; content to just keep out of his house and away from his uncles. The pair had a habit of making him train even harder than he would on his own and he'd always whinge about how he couldn't get sand out of his intimate areas for weeks after.

The trio set out through the darkened village, occasionally nodding at other shinobi or civilians as they passed them in the street, Chōchō knowing the most people out of the three. Her habits of eating a lot as a child had brought her into contact with more people than the less sociable boys, Inojin having spent a lot of time alone, taking after his father's artistic streak and Shikadai actually actively holding disdain towards other people, preferring to entertain himself by exercising and staying on top of his training. It always amused the other members of his team that his most commonly said phrase was 'troublesome', yet he trained harder than they did and they never hesitated to remind him of it.

The dark skinned girl chuckled, before she brought her arms up with a smile on her face. "We should get something to eat, and hang out downtown." Inojin allowed himself a small smile, relaxing a little, releasing the tension he'd been holding in since his parent's fight earlier in the evening. Ever since they were kids, Chōchō helped him out whenever he was feeling down about something, and in more recent years had consoled him when his parent's had started to have their periodic arguments. She'd helped him realise that even though his parents fought, they didn't actually hate each other. The two of them had even gone out on a few dates, before they both realised that they were better friends, remaining close, their dynamic completely unchanged.

Cheerfully, Chōchō linked arms with the two other boys, and dragged them towards her favourite dango store, talking about how she was looking forwards to her monthly visit to Kumo and how excited she was to be seeing Omoi again, as he would always give her some new weapons or training gear. Shikadai lamented over the fact that his uncles would be in town for a week more at the least and how waking up twice a night to find "scary fuckin' puppets of dead people" and "being thrown around in geysers of fuckin' sand" wasn't nearly as fun as it sounded (_it didn't really sound all that fun in the first place_). Inojin laughed alongside the pair, just enjoying the sensation being around some of his favourite people.

When they arrived, the boys sat down while Chōchō walked off to grab a selection of dumplings for the group to eat. The boys threw their share on the table before lazily sitting back and idly chatting. Shikadai began to tease Inojin for his crush on Boruto (and everyone else), before Inojin asked him innocently if he's done crushing on Himawari and the flush from the dark haired boy let him know that he'd hit a raw nerve. With a gentle laugh, he leaned back, pulling his hair back, untying it and let it flop down. "Uzumakis. They're all ridiculous."

Shikadai snickered, "I think you mean ridiculously attractive." Inojin sneered at the other boy, his lips curled back.

"She's like 12 dude, gross," Inojin laughed "What're you, a lolicon?." Shikadai leaned forwards, clasping his hands together and cracking his joints.

"Try it Yamanaka, I can take you," he intoned lowly and for a few seconds, the two boys glared at each other, before they both leant back cackling, an action which got cut short when the Akimichi girl returned, smacking Shikadai upside the head, before sitting down next to Inojin and tugging on his ear, twisting it till his mouth twitched.

"You both need to cut out the big-boy shit, it won't make your dicks grow," she laughed, before releasing her tight hold on his ear, leaving Inojin to grimace as the ear throbs painfully, whilst Shikadai rubbed the back of his head mournfully, looking unusually upset by the outburst of violence, before returning to his usual self. The Nara and Akimichi started to bicker and quarrel whilst Inojin just sat back smiling, watching the storm roll in and the rain start to come down. Ever since he was a kid, he had loved the sound and smell of rain, and his walls for years have been covered in drawings that he did of the rare rainstorms that would come through Konoha. Once he'd learnt how to use paints, the art had been replaced with more detailed pictures of the city during storms.

He slowly nibbled at his food, occasionally mumbling a response, but he was more focussed on watching the evening rain. What finally broke him out of his daze was a cute blushing girl coming up to him and poking a slender finger into shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, he turned to face her, perturbed at her odd way of approaching him. She smiled nervously, which prompted Shikadai to start snickering from behind his hand. Inojin flicked Shikadai, before returning her smile, and politely asked her why she was poking him.

The girl scratched her head before steeling herself. "My name's Takara Fukui and I was wondering if I could hang out with you guys." Her voice was sincere, and it had a nice ring to it. Inojin nodded, before looking to the other two shinobi with him.

"Are you cool with her hanging with us?"

Chōchō shrugged, "Yeah, she's probably cool. Just remember that I'm the coolest girl in this group." This drew an odd look from the new girl, but she dipped her head slightly in greeting.

"Whatever, not like we need more of your fangirls around, Inojin," he laughed, sending the girl into a slightly deeper shade of red. Quickly swallowing her pride, she sat down beside Shikadai, who jokingly brushed dirt off his shoulder, before Chōchō leaned over and pushed on his forehead, knocking him backwards onto the floor. Takara giggled slightly, before realising that it might be rude, whilst Inojin snorted at the downfall of the Nara teen. Grumbling through his teeth, Shikadai reclaimed his seat, whilst shooting daggers at the Akimichi girl.

Sensing a need to change the topic, Inojin looked over at the newest addition to their small group. "So, um… Takara? You've got your headband, but I honestly don't remember seeing you around often." The girl shrugged, a bit twitchy with all the eyes on her.

"Uh, well, my genin team were a recon team. We all specialised in gaining intelligence quickly, and leaving quickly, so we spent a lot of time honing our skills out in the field, helping out older teams by getting them information on criminals, then letting them finish the job. It was tough, but we did a lot of good." It bothered Inojin that she's talking in the past tense, and not like it's something she's done recently. "But now that I'm a Chūnin, I do a lot of stuff with other shinobi, outside of my old team." He watched as she twisted her hair around her finger, fascinated by the way her brown hair looked when she curled it. Of course, Shikadai ruined the moment of quiet with his usual attitude.

"Well, at least you're not some shitty-ass genin trying to suck up." It always amused Inojin just how much of a foul mouth Shikadai has when he was trying to make people unnerved or uncomfortable, but given the circumstance, he opted to leer at him. The leer was quite clearly noted and the other boy backed off with a humph and closed his eyes.

The girl talked a little more about her family; her dad a merchant who ran a trading business in the city on top of the village, and her mother who was a nurse at the hospital and her little brother was more interested in being a merchant than a shinobi. When she talked this, it was evident that she was being pushed that way as well, but she then explained how it'd been her goal since she could remember to be a good shinobi. So she'd worked hard and made it through, forever believing in the same ethic that Rock Lee had; that hard work could still produce a good shinobi, regardless of their bloodline.

The group continued to chat lightly after she was done introducing herself, talking about upcoming missions, about their day to day and any gossip they had heard. Shikadai tends to get a little quieter with the talk of family, and it was evident that he was still very much hurting, even though he'd never attest to the fact.

Inojin sighed. The 7th Hokage may very well have been viewed as one of the greatest Hokage's in terms of the era of peace he had brought with him, but even he couldn't stop all the flaws that had arisen with the new found peace. There'd always be death and sadness; it was in the human nature. It just needed to be accepted.

**. . .**

_The room is so quiet_, she idly wondered. Her amethyst eyes excruciatingly panned over the room, taking in the minute details, looking at the cracks, the flaws. The painting that they did together has faded a little, now that so many years have passed. Some of the pictures which adorned the walls have cracked glass and she questioned when that happened, trying to piece together the foggy parts of her memory. It had become a lot harder for her to remember things since… since it happened. She raised her hand to her face, confused by the sudden wetness and she realised that she was crying. That detached feeling spreads through her once more; the numbness spreading through her body like a virus and it chilled her to the core.

Hinata looked upwards towards the roof, her breath coming slowly and gently through her lips, her fingers clenched at her chest as that familiar pain came back to her. _How many days has it been since I last stood up? How many days since I left this confined room?_ The bitterness enveloped her worse than the numbness and she lay on her back, sobbing gently, bringing her knees up to her chest. She could hear the two girls playing out in the hallway, the burbles from the younger girl only hurting her more to hear. _If only I could bring myself to make it out of the room and see them. If only._

Steeling herself, she slowly and unsteadily stood up, swaying from side to side. Emotions racked her body and she felt weak from the lack of sleep and food. Running her hand along the wall, she slowly walked hand pressed against the wall for what felt like a few seconds. Or was it a few minutes? How long it was she didn't really know. When she got to the door, she gently raised her hand out, feeling the trembling aches run through it. As her fingers brushed the door handle, she felt a gentle tremble run through her, filling her body and mind. Her raven hair quivered from the increased shaking and she slowly sank to the floor, tears sliding down her face and dripping to the floor. Long hair cascaded down onto the floor as she sank slowly against the floor, her face pressed roughly against the floor as fell softly onto the hardened floorboards.

After a while, her sobs petered out, and she found herself staring at the roof, whilst lying on her back. Her fingers slowly grasped and ungrasped, feeling the emptiness between them. She imagined the feeling of his fingers among hers, her favourite sensation in the world. As her mind wandered, she saw the man himself beside her, his face so full of life and happiness, his eyes so bright. She tried to hold on to the image for a few more desperate moments before she faded away but then she was alone again. It was so utterly hopeless that she curled up and quietly whispered his name like an incantation, desperately searching for something of him within the cloak that covered her.

She wasn't sure just how long she had lain on the floor after that. Some light had filtered in but then it was gone but she didn't know if she'd really seen it. After what she assumed was some more time, she heard a gentle rap at the door and raised her red raw eyes to see her daughter standing there, a determined look on her face. The girl knelt down next to her mother and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, before grabbing one of her mother's arms and lifting her upwards. She slipped under the older woman to support her weight, whilst still holding that same determined grin. Hinata was in such a daze that she could hardly process what was going on, as she was led through their home. The paired passed an inquisitive Mina, whose white eyes followed her mother and sister gently, before she gently toddled after them. The three made their way to the garden, which was sheltered under a canopy. Usually it was covered with a shelter that let water in but reduced the sun a bit, but for now, the canopy was covered with a plastic tarp, evidently drawn over by Himawari to shelter the plants from the storm. As Hinata got over the odd realisation that her daughter had been keeping things in line and cared for. Suddenly, she noticed a small fountain. Himawari pointed to it with a smile and nodded at her mother, coming across as a lot older than she was. "Have a look, Mama," she said.

The older Uzumaki walked across and looked at the fountain and felt an odd sensation run through her. The fountain had two tiers, with a swirling whirlpool in both, looping it around so that it kept moving in a continuous, circular motion. Hinata felt a small tear trickle down her face as she realised what it represented. "Himawari, did you?" Her voice was so small that it cracked and quivered, sore from its disuse. _When did Sasuke visit? Was that the last time I spoke? _Her thoughts swirled around and around her cluttered mind while she tried to process the fountain in front of her

"Dad might be gone, but we're never going to let his legacy die," Himawari whispered, her voice brave, fighting against her obvious inner turmoil. "It's always going to hurt because we love him, but this is just a small way to remember him, because if we keep going and try to forget how important he was, it's just not going to go away." As Hinata watched her daughter, she could almost see the love of her life saying the same thing. The look of determination, regardless of the circumstance reminded her so much of the man she would love her entire life and it was like the fog had lifted from her mind a little, even if it was for only a little while. She turned back to face the two girls and crouched down, arms spread wide and the look of sheer happiness warmed the woman's tired heart as she let her two girls embrace her for the first time in weeks.

"I missed you so much Mama," cried Mina, her voice so little and afraid that it broke her mother's heart to hear her sound so sad and alone. She squeezed her daughters tight in her arms, the long dark hair drifting over the other two girls' dark blue hair and the trio was one ball of tight emotions. It was only then that Hinata realised that someone was missing from their group, someone who should be there but wasn't.

"Hima, where's Boruto?" The look on Himawari's face at the question sent a cold chill down Hinata's back, although she wasn't sure what for.

"Boruto's been training lots, Mama, he's not really around home since that fight with Uncle Sasuke," and as soon as the world 'fight' was out of her mouth Hinata stood up with a look of sheer horror on her face.

"What? Sasuke?" She had a blurry memory of Sasuke coming to talk to her, but she could barely remember anything about it.

"Uncle Sasuke came over to visit and tried to talk Boruto out of his obsession with trying to get the people who killed Papa," Himawari looked away, obviously trying to keep the emotion off her face, "He's been working so hard that people have been trying to stop him from doing it, but he just won't listen." She sighed, looking far too tired than she has any right to. Hinata averted her eyes, before wiping at her own raw eyes. Looking back at the two girls who'd made her life so much happier, she smiled gently before she reached out and took each of their hands, squeezing them tightly.

"You girls don't worry. Boruto, like you, is his father's son. He'll come around and do what's right in all good time." Now, if only she could convince herself of that. Slumping a little, she squeezed her daughter's hands once more and pulled them back into her arms again, snuffling gently into Mina's hair. Mina whispered softly in her mum's ear, "Welcome home, mama."


	5. Defection

The boot swished past Inojin's throat and he rolled backwards, his arms up to block another blow. Before he could react, Chōchō lashed her other boot around, hooking directly into the side of his face, knocking him rolling through the dust. As he rolled to a stop, he grabbed his sword out of its sheath, holding it up to block her kunai as it slashed downwards. The two gritted their teeth, Chōchō face painted in an excited grin as she pushed her advantage. The razor sharp kunai slipped downwards towards his hilt and his fingers came dangerously close to the blade. Taking the opportunity, Inojin lashed out with his shin, trying to knock her off balance. Chōchō was thrown by the sudden move, dropping sideways from the vicious movement. Pushing his advantage, he leapt at the girl, desperately punching to try and knock her back, but as usual her height was a source of irritation, as she intercepted his move, grabbing him and flipping him over her shoulder onto the dirt behind her.

He thudded down hard into the ground and was instantly winded by the hard fall. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to sit up, only to find her boot on his throat and a kunai pointed between his eyes. Smiling, Chōchō threw the kunai to the side and held out her hand to Inojin, and with a smile he accepted it. The two stood up and walked to the side where Inojin, along with their parents were watching, all smiling, except Shikadai and Temari who had their eyes closed. Their long eyelashes barely batted as they conserved their energy and criticisms. The day was muggy, the storm clouds that had washed over the village in the last week refusing to budge. The continuous, but sporadic storms were starting to take their toll upon the mood of the village, leaving many people with a downtrodden look upon their faces. It was as if the entire village had fallen into a slump and no longer had the energy to pick itself up.

Inojin wiped his face off with the towel that his mother threw to him, before sitting down and trying to get his breath back. His issue with fighting Chōchō was that no matter how agile and lithe he was, he couldn't compete with her tank-like build and would never be able to hit her hard enough. It definitely wasn't for lack of trying, but he'd often land four blows that would be for naught the instant she pulverised him with a chakra laced blow of her own. Ino reached over and dragged him from his thoughts as she laid a compress made of ice onto his cheek where he'd been hit earlier. The cool frost bit into the wound and the teen winced a bit at the temperature change. Ino simply shook her head at him.

"God, 'Jin, you can be such a wuss," she tutted as she tried to wrap a bandage around his arm where he'd been scraped with the kunai. He was content to let his mother fuss over him and give him advice, as she was always reiterating that she'd stop training on the day that she keeled over and died. Whilst morbid, she seemed to be determined to make sure that as much of her knowledge was passed onto him. His dad had a smile on his face and one arm around Ino, but didn't say much. His training sessions were often less… structured than those run by his mother. Both he and his dad didn't sleep as much as Ino, and would often go off on training in the middle of the night or practice their painting by moonlight. When he'd been younger, Inojin had never really noticed the late night starts or his lack of sleep and it wasn't until he'd been running on a few days without sleep that he'd realised that sleep deprivation was a thing. That had started one of the rowdiest fights between his parents when Ino had realised that Sai hadn't explained to Inojin that sleep deprivation training was risky to one's health.

It didn't stop him from continuing on the practice into his teen years, often going 3 or 4 days before collapsing. The habit had led to him getting a reputation as the dark "cool" one among his classmates and rumours since then had varied from him being a vampire to a deviant. He never really minded the fuss, preferring to merely enjoy the freedom offered by the lack of the sleep. Sure, he'd occasionally pass out in the academy or forget to do work, but for the most it improved his ability to focus in stressful circumstances, as well as being able to sleep for shorter periods than other members of his team, like Shikadai who once notoriously fell asleep for 24 hours in the middle of a training exercise, leaving his teammates desperately dragging him around like a dead weight.

Finally the patching up was done and he stood up, brushing his mother's fretting hand off, before kissing her on the forehead. "Thanks mum," he smiled, before running off from the group. Mirai raised her hand with a look of frustration on her face, her long hair making her look far more furious than she actually was.

"Inojin, get back here!" Her voice was sharp but the tone playful.

"Sorry, Mirai, but if I don't get to the library soon it'll close down," he said quickly before turning around again and running off. He'd been planning on visiting the local library to peruse some of the databases on elemental releases. For months before the disaster, he'd been investigating the elemental releases, trying to figure out some basic techniques that he could train with. There were vast amounts of info that he could access there on the basics and he could work out how to build upon them from there. The library wasn't too far from where he was training, so it took him less time than he'd expected to get there.

Most of his research pointed to the fact that the first thing he'd have to do would be to find out his elemental affinity. He'd been slowly reading through the public volumes of the Seventh Hokage's journals and had found reference to a type of paper that could determine one's elemental affinity. Leaning back in his chair, Inojin grinned to himself. It was as solid a place to start as anywhere. However, the journal had given him no pointers on where to source the paper from, merely saying that Kakashi Hatake, the previous Hokage had given it to Naruto during his training. The blonde sighed, pinching the bridge between his eyes, frustrated. Finding the old Hokage was always tricky, given his habit on going on long adventures by himself, without letting anyone know. He logged out, planning to go to the last place that the older man had been seen; his small apartment. It was often considered a sad and lonely place, given that it was the smallest house ever lived in by a Hokage.

The boy rushed though the village, holding his umbrella over his head to try and keep himself a little dry. As much as he loved the rain, the constant beat-down of the rain was wearing on his tolerance. At that precise moment the wind whipped up and grabbed his umbrella, tearing it away into the sky. The blonde shouted and reached for it, but the item flew into the sky and inverted, before going out of sight behind a building. He slumped, the water pouring down onto him, soaking into his clothes. Sighing again, Inojin wiped his hair out his eyes, watching the girl walk past him with her umbrella. Taking the initiative, he zipped in front of the girl and politely bowed his head. "Miss, would it be terrible of me to ask to borrow your umbrella?" He grinned with his best smile, hoping that the girl wouldn't just walk off.

She snickered, before raising the umbrella to reveal Sarada, her glasses fogged up from the humidity. Inojin smirked and jumped under the umbrella, squeezing her tight in a hug. "Thanks a ton, you're a good friend, Sara," he laughed before letting her go. The two walked slowly, before Sarada looked over to him.

"Where are you heading 'Jin?" He shrugged, not really sure that he wanted to let anyone know about his plans.

"Oh, I'm just heading up to the Sixth's house. I was hoping to ask him about something." Remaining vague, Inojin smiled at the dark haired girl before keeping his eyes on the road ahead of them, enjoying the peace and quiet. Sarada didn't seem to be much in the mood for conversation and she kept scratching at her face. After a while, he glanced at her and noticed that she had some light bandages covering a few different places. "Hey Sara, what's the deal with your face? Looks like you've had the shit kicked out of you." This topic apparently was a sore spot and she turned away, her hand covering the plaster.

"Oh it's nothing," she shrugged before continuing, "You should see the other guy." Inojin raised his eyebrow slowly before looking forwards. It was evident that that was all he was getting out of her on the topic, so he changed the topic.

"How's Boruto?" She blushed a bit at the mention of his name before straightening up and readjusting her grip on her umbrella. "I heard you guys were training hard in the old spot." The Uchiha shrugged, clearly not wanting to say anything on the topic. _Well that's a bit odd. _Inojin decided to just enjoy the walk in silence. The two moved quite briskly through the storm, the heavy rain pounding down on the umbrella, creating an odd sense of quiet. After a while, however, Sarada glanced over at him and stopped walking. The Yamanaka was so caught up in his own thoughts that he took a few paces out into the rain and then stopped, looking back at her.

"'Jin, if you cared about someone and they had to go somewhere, what would you do?" Her usually springy tone is a bit subdued and suddenly, he couldn't feel the rain on his head anymore. _Is Sarada going to leave?_

"Sarada, are you planning on leaving the village?" His green eyes bored into hers, unwavering and she glanced away, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets. When she looked back up, she had a few drops running down her face and he couldn't tell if she was crying or whether there was just raindrops rolling down her face. She shrugged, before taking off her steamy glasses and wiping her face off.

"Would you come with us?" Her eyes glittered in the light and he was taken aback from just how bright they were.

He grimaced. He couldn't afford to leave the village so close to his jōnin training and examination. "Sarada… I can't," he sighed. She nodded curtly averting her eyes, before shaking her head a bit.

He jumped back under the umbrella and pulled her into his chest. Ever since he'd turned 14 and he'd had his growth spurt, she'd always been a head shorter than him. Whilst he was still gawky, he was always content to hug people, it gave him a sense of calm. The girl seemed to tense at first before she pulled in close to his chest and sobbed. "I know you probably can't tell me who or why you're going to leave. I won't push you to stay, but I care about you Sarada, so be safe." He felt himself tearing up, so he leant in and kissed her on the forehead. She looked at him longingly once before turning away and disappearing in a plume of smoke. He sighed, looking up into the sky, letting the harsh rain wash over him. He turned away from where she'd been and walked up the path towards the former Hokage's house. Maybe he could start his mission today.

Sarada watched from the rooftop as Inojin walked up the path to Kakashi's house before turning away to look at Boruto. He smiled a little and she simply bowed her head, the loud rain and emotional turmoil causing her to feel completely exhausted. He embraced her and she watched as the landscape changed and the two were suddenly at the village gate. This wasn't her first time travelling long distances in a split second but the inertia still through her out and she turned around, gagging. Boruto quietly stood behind her, waiting for her to finish retching, before gesturing for her to come back to his side. She took a few tentative steps, before punching him hard in the arm. He grabbed at the injury in mock pain, before returning to his neutral expression that he seemed to default to these days. "We need to get moving before night falls, or someone will notice that we're gone." She looked at him, holding the gaze for a while before moving over to the gate and grabbing her bag from the bushes where they'd stashed it.

"Are we going to leave our letters at home or not?" Boruto glanced back at her, before shrugging.

"Good planning Sarada, I thought you were the smart one. I already left my letters this morning." She glared at him, flicking him off, before running towards her home for what could be the last time. A few tears filled her eyes as she ran, before coming to a halt in front of the letterbox. Creeping into the yard, she listened out, but the rain made it almost impossible to hear if anyone was around. She slid open the window and leant into her room, looking around, before sliding in and landing on the floor in a crouch. Unfortunately for her, there was someone sitting on her bed with an angry look on his face.

Katsuro glared at her, his face looking like a thunderstorm, rolling a coin back and forth over his knuckles. He'd picked up the annoying habit from one of his classmates and now had a multitude of tricks that he could do with the damned things. After a few moments of silence he flicked the coin up, caught it and flicked it hard at her face, smacking her hard in the forehead. She grunted, before catching the glittering coin and squeezing it into her palm. "So, sis, where are you going? Must be somewhere interesting given that you're sneaking in the window," he muttered, his face downcast. Sarada grimaced, and threw her folded up letter at him, smacking him in the face. Turning to open her closet, she ruffled through her spare gear, double checking to see if anything had been left behind.

Grimacing, the dark haired boy flicked open the letter, his eyes flickering through it quickly, before he through it down with a glare and jumped off her bed. However, it was hard for a short 10 year old to look intimidating. "Sarada!" he shouted, "What are you thinking? What are you doing?" His anger bubbled up and he poked his finger into her nose, causing her to smack his hand away. The two siblings glared off, before Sarada turned back to the closest, grabbing her hairbands. "You're just gonna run away, leave all of us behind? How do you think Hikari will feel when I have to tell her that, oh yeah, Sarada isn't gonna read her bed time stories because she's run off with her fucking boyfriend!" His voice was squeaking by the end and she glared at him, before pushing him over onto the bed.

"You don't know anything Katsuro," she spoke quietly. Her voice shook as she spoke. "I'm not leaving because of Boruto, I'm leaving to make sure he doesn't get hurt. It might sound similar but I assure you it's not." The younger boy's eyes shimmer a little and her heart aches. Gently, she crouched down and smiled at the boy, hugging him into her chest. As she did so, she heard the door creak open and her little sister stumbled inside, a smile on her face. Obviously she'd heard the commotion and wanted to get involved in it. Wiping her eye quickly, Sarada spread her arms and welcomed her little sister into the hug. The three tightly squeezed each other until Sarada pulled back, pulling her glasses off and wiping her eyes.

The three stayed close, quietly whispering little things. It was clear that Hikari thought it was some sort of joke or game, so Sarada pretended not to be torn up and started giving the little girl advice. "Now Hikari, I'm gonna be really busy for the next while! So that means you've gotta be a good sister to Katsuro, you hear me?" Her throat clinched up a little as the little pink haired girl nodded her head up and down dramatically. "And you're gonna have to give Mama and Papa lots of kisses and make sure to help them clean the dishes! Because I'm not gonna be able to do my share anymore, you know? You're the princess now, you hear me?" The glee on her little sister's round little face almost broke the older Uchiha's heart and she glanced away before locking her eyes on Katsuro.

"Brother, if you let anything happen to her, I will not hesitate to bring hell down upon you, from wherever I may be in the world. I will find you and make you suffer," she whispered through gritted teeth, pointing her thumb at him. "Our parents will need you more than ever, and you better keep the Uchiha name proud. Study all day, train all night, sleep never, do what you can to be the best son to Mama and Papa." He nodded a little, wiping at his eyes, trying to hold off his tears. "I know you'll be able to surpass Mama one day, maybe even Papa." She smiled once more and wiped around her eyes.

"I have to go soon. Boruto's waiting, he'll leave if I take too long." She stood up and quietly straightened her clothes, hitching her packs onto her back. "I love you both and I'll be back as soon as I can to visit." She leaned down and kissed her little sister on the forehead before flicking her brother in the forehead. "I love you both. Keep training and being good kids for Mama and Papa." Hikari started to sob and clenched the back of her dress, pulling her back down to ground level. Sarada knelt down and ruffled her hair, before picking her up in her arms. "Don't worry Hikari, your big sis will be back soon," she smiled before putting her down on her bed.

"I'll try and keep Mama and Papa busy, Sara. You owe me so much." Katsuro had a few droplets running down his face but his expression was set in stone. It was evident that he was trying to be stoic to stop Hikari from crying. He reached out and punched her shoulder and with that she turned and fled through the window, desperate to get away before the increasingly emotional situation. As she ran through the village, the tears started to run down her face again and she desperately tried to stem the flow.

Suddenly she froze as she saw figures land on the ground in front of her. One tall dark figure and one bright red and pink ball of anger straightened up looked in her direction. Sarada felt her blood run cold as her parents strode towards her, finding herself completely unable to move. Sasuke's face was set in stone, whilst Sakura looked like she was about to explode and level the entire area. They came to a stop in front of her and Sarada shrunk when she noticed the crunched up letter in her mother's hand, grimacing at the hurt and pain on their faces.

Sakura immediately exploded, borderline screaming, "What the hell were you doing? Do you even know what kind of danger you could be putting yourself in? I thought you were smarter than this, I thought you learnt from the stories that I told you about me and your father! I can't even believe that you'd leave the village, it's so stupid that I don't really get it at all." She was shouting so loud that the teen could hear her over the pouring rain, and it stunned her. As Sakura took a deep breath and started, as if about to continue on her rampage, Sasuke reached up his hand and pushed his arm in front of her mouth.

"Did you really think that we'd let you go, Sarada?" As always, her Papa's tone was soft and quiet, but not angry at all. It was evident that he was trying to contain the turmoil that was swirling around inside him. "You're the oldest, you're supposed to be the one not making rash decisions." He sighed gently, rubbing at his face. "But…" Sakura whirled to look at him, her eyes questioning. "The Uchiha have lost a lot by us trying to deny our feelings. When we care about someone, we tend to deny it, fearing weakness."

The man sighed again, before looking into her eye's, a look of sadness on his face. "Sarada, if you must go. Visit us. Don't let the darkness creep in and most importantly," Sasuke's eyes are slightly watery as he says this last part, "Keep Boruto safe." Sarada broke down and ran into her father's arms, sobbing as he embraced her tightly. Sakura still looked furious but recognised the fact that if Sarada had somehow convinced her father to let her go, there was about little to no chance that she could convince her to stay. She leaned in and kissed her on the head before pointing a finger at her with a stern look on her face.

Her mother took a few moments before lowering the accusatory finger, sighing. "Sarada, you remind me so much of myself at your age. It goes against everything that I know and I don't want to tell you that I'm okay with you going, because I'm not. It's not that I don't believe in you, it's that I'm your mother and you're the first child I had." She wiped her eye and put her hands on her hips, a pose her daughter knew all too well. "Be the best you can and don't let him fall too far. I know you'll do great." The older woman choked up and placed her hand over her mouth for a few moments before looking back and grabbing onto Sarada's arm. The mother and daughter's eyes met and it felt like a wave of information was passing from those bright green eyes into her own dark orbs. Then, as quickly as it had started, the bond broke and the two looked away, her mother's grip loosening on her arm.

"Don't forget to visit." With that, her parent's walked off, as if the conversation had never took place. Sarada suddenly realised that she was actually going to leave. This was no longer just some small thing between them; this was a full scale defection, something that could get them in serious trouble. She walked in silence to the gate and looked around, seeing no sign of Boruto. A slight scraping of shoe on stone made her whirl and she watched as he darted out from behind a tree.

"Took your time. You ready to go?" He spoke softly, his hand outstretched, hood up, protecting him from the persistent rain. His amethyst eyes were downcast and he looked like he just wanted to leave as soon as he could. She glanced back at the village as it drowned in the heavy rain, taking in all the details she could, committing every building to memory before she turned back to him and held out her hand. The two clasped their hands together, before running off into the forest together, going to god knows where. Internally Sarada shed one more tear before swearing that it would be her last. _I won't come back alone. I won't cry. I won't let my friend lose his way. I promise you that Mama, Papa! I promise you both that I'll come back just fine. _

Shikadai leant back against the tree and felt his vertebrae creaking, stretching out to his full height before settling down. Across from him, Chōchō was laughing as she read passages aloud from a book she'd nicked from the public library, wanting to show off her talents. The Nara boy simply let her, having learned years ago that to interrupt Chōchō was to bring the wrath of the heavens down upon oneself. He slowly felt himself drift off into his imagination, enjoying the sweep of semi-consciousness gently wash over his body, before his dreamy-state was interrupted by a quick grab and he found himself yanked in front of the brown skinned girl. She glared at him, before dropping him on the ground, cuffing him around the back of the head. The sleepy boy slammed into the ground, groaning as he lay on the floor, pain wracking his entire body. Dragging himself back to his knees, he glared at her, before re-entering his seat. She smiled sweetly before slurping her drink.

"Have you seen how hard Inojin has been working lately?" She asked him, changing the subject, "He's been working so fuckin' hard that I have barely seen him lately, outside team training." He glanced up her, before he shrugged and slumped on the table. The sheer difference between him and his other male teammate was so huge. One was so permanently sleep deprived that he had appeared to develop insomnia at some point, the other being so sleep loving that it was borderline fetishistic.

"'Jin has those times where he goes 5 days without sleeping and then sleeps for a day and goes for another 5 just to get in the habit of hitting the target right on the mark," Shikadai muttered offhandedly, "Have you learnt nothing? Do you remember when he realised that he couldn't draw?" Chōchō cringed at the memory. They'd been six at the time and Inojin had been attempting to replicate his father's ink techniques, only to have horrible lopsided drawings that would have imbalanced arms, lopsided amounts of ink, or just things that didn't resemble their original intention at all. What had followed had been 3 weeks of what would forever be referred to as "Extreme drawing training". Sai and Inojin had teamed up for 22 hour days of drawing until at the end of the three week mark, Inojin could replicate scenery, people or creatures with little to no practice at all. During the period however, Konoha had been plagued by various ink creatures running through the streets when some of Inojin's creatures had (_repeatedly_) gone on rampages throughout the village.

"Don't even remind me 'Dai, some things are better off being forgotten," she smirked, "But lately, he's been leaving training early, spending hours in the library and then training his ass off in the woods. Hell, today I heard he was going up the road to the Hokage's house." At the mention of this odd behaviour, Shikadai raised his delicate eyebrow a few notches up his face and he leaned back a bit in his chair. He felt his interest being piqued; it wasn't like his best friend to go interacting with geezers.

"That is pretty suss. Him not telling you anything, I mean he trusts you just as much as me?" Chōchō shrugged at his suggestion, before she scratched her head idly.

"I mean, he mentioned that he wanted to learn more about elemental releases? I was a bit distracted because I was trying to beat my best handstand time." Shikadai sighed and the mood between the two dipped a bit. Chōchō heaved a big breath before reaching over and scratched his head, before ruffling his head, a small gesture between the two.

Shikadai bristled at his hair being ruined by the girl and immediately set to trying to straighten it up again, frowning intensely as he attempted to sculpt the immaculate mess. She smirked and they fell back into quiet conversation, bouncing ideas off each other for what Inojin could have been planning.

"Fire eater."

"Immersed in water stripper."

"Mermaid."

"Hokage"

Chōchō froze. Shikadai's mouth dropped open.

"You don't possibly think that…"

"It's not like he's ever cared about anything like that before? All he cared about was becoming a jōnin." Chōchō nodded, unable to deny the fact that the Yamanaka boy was very goal driven. He'd even broken down his 11th birthday into a series of goals and tried to meet all of them. He'd always been diligent with his studies compared to the other two team members, refusing to skip training sessions and always spending his long nights learning more about the techniques he could pull off.

It was in his nature to pick the hardest possible goal and work at it, even when his body would give out on him.

Shikadai grimaced. Looked at the sky, he stretched out gently. He was well aware that the selections for the jōnin were coming up soon, so he knew that Inojin would be pushing himself as hard as he could. His tired eyes closed as he considered the fact that his entire team was up for promotion. It was hard enough to be a Chūnin lately, what with all of the murmurs of conflict and fights. Ever since their beloved leader had been cut down, Shikadai had heard whispers of dissent and hatred, revenge and disgust. His mother had warned him about anger so it had always been one of the things he'd kept in check; even after his father had died, he'd thought the problem through rationally. It simply wasn't worth going to war with some unknown nation whose military prowess was completely unknown. Throughout school, they'd always learnt that the outer nations, outside the borders, were unknown. As he'd grown older, he'd studied into it a bit more and there was hardly any knowledge, Intel or recon info for the outer nations. He'd even planned to accompany Shikamaru on his trip but had been kept in the village due to the upcoming promotions and it was probably just as well.

With the Hokage seat empty, as well as head advisor, a power vacuum had started to brew; with the more militaristic pushing for Sasuke to take the role on, and those who wanted to support the legacy of their old Hokage wanting Konohamaru to fill the role. There were whispers of wanting to remove the old Senju blood from the leadership and give it some fresh blood, some fresh insight. Of course, the Uchiha in question had been seen aggressively talking to some of those supporters, leaving them chalk white and often passed out. The man still had the tact of a broken nail. His rolled his neck gently, feeling the quiet pop as it rotated. Groaning, he looked at his friend, aware of the fact that he hadn't spoken for a while.

Chōchō sighed. "That idiot. Always an overachiever, isn't he?" Shikadai nodded his head, before standing up and brushing his shoulders.

"You ready to go catch up with our idiot friend?" The Akimichi had a grin on her face and Shikadai nodded back at her, before smiling on his own. She looped her arm into his and they strolled out into the street, making their way towards the former Hokage's house. There wasn't much cause to talk, but Shikadai spotted it with conversation, joking about how his latest attempts to talk to Himawari had been shut down. Chōchō reminisced about some of their early childhood, giggling about how Shikadai had been responsible for most of their group's mischief, blowing off studies to go daydreaming in the hills, or going on quests in the forest. They'd even gone looking for the Nine Tails Fox when they'd heard about him from Himawari, who'd burbled about how her dad had taken her to visit the legendary being. The trip down memory lane was burst when the two found themselves at the gate to the former Hokage's place.

The place seemed old; it had always seemed so steeped in knowledge. They'd visited a few times as kids and it had always been a place that they'd viewed as something to stay the hell away from. It wasn't that Kakashi was scary, rather that he'd never really put the effort into making his house appealing to the people. The two strolled along the path before coming to a stop outside the door, smashing the knocker into the door. A few scattered footsteps pattered and then the door swung open, the shock of grey hair coming out before the worn face of the man followed. "Hey kids, are you looking for Inojin?" His gentle smile cracked wide, as he gestured down the hall. The three walked through the quiet hall before entering a dojo where Inojin lay on the ground… apparently smouldering. He rolled over looking at the two as they entered, grinning slightly. His clothes were singed and his hair was apparently falling off in clumps at the back of his ponytail. _What the hell? _Shikadai and Chōchō quickly walked over to him, patting out some of the cinders on his shirt before spinning to face the elder.

"What the hell, Kakashi?" As always, Shikadai's informality completely removed any sense of respect that the sentence may have had. Kakashi simply smiled before moving over to one of the seats and sitting down. Inojin wiped his face and smirked, apparently unharmed despite the haphazard quality of his clothing. The two newcomers exchanged a look of confusion before looking to the grey haired man for answers.

"Inojin wanted elemental release training, so he came to me, one of the people who can do all of them," he laughed, his smile spread across his face, "So I've been showing him some of the basic level release techniques and he got a bit caught in the fire release." He chuckles and Inojin gives a bit of a lopsided grin, before standing up.

"Kakashi offered to help me learn more about elemental techniques. They're basically a required thing for a jōnin, so I really want to learn as much about them as I can. We were just about to get onto that when you guys rocked up." He rubbed again at his face, clearing some of the soot from around his eyes. Shikadai raised his eyebrows before shaking his head and looking over at Chōchō.

"I'm assuming that we're gonna join in with these idiots, aren't we?" Chōchō sighed and shook her head before cracking her neck.

"Aw, what the hell man. We want to be jōnin, we gotta do the work." Shikadai sighed at the conclusion and started to stretch. Kakashi looked over the two and beamed, his whole face lighting up. Not a lot of people visited him as much since he'd stepped down as the Hokage, so he was always ecstatic to have company.

He led them outside, into a small courtyard where a few trees stood ringed by a small watery ring. As the group walked along the path, Kakashi pulled out a small phone and dialled a number quickly, talking quietly. After a minute, he closed it and looked to the wall. Shikadai felt his eyes follow the man's line of sight. A man flew over the wall, his shortish brown hair ruffling in the wind. He walked over and Kakashi embraced him. "Always good to see you Tenzō." The man grimaced at the use of the name, shaking his head, eternally frustrated at his friend.

"I told you to stop calling me that long ago Kakashi," he muttered, but his eyes showed that there was no weight behind the words. The embrace ended and he looked over at the teens, quickly taking them in. "Ah, so we have the new InoShikaCho here to grace us with their presence. Good to see you kids." His weathered face smiled, but Shikadai was weirded out by the dissonance in his expression between his eyes and smile. He'd met Yamato a few different times, but his enormous vacuous eyes still creeped him out. The man turned to Kakashi with a small grin and nodded his head. "This feels nostalgic. Almost feels just like yesterday we were teaching Naruto these same basics." Kakashi smiled before gently nodding. Impatient to get started, Shikadai shook his head before trying to interrupt the geezers.

"Yo, could we get started or are we gonna spend all of our time reminiscing on ancient history?" The rudeness of his statement merely elicited laughter from the two men and they exchanged a smile.

"This one's got a lot of his mother in him, huh Tenzō?" Kakashi chuckled before regaining his composure, "But he has a point, so let's get on with it." The man straightened up, rolling his shoulders to get out the creaks of age. The brown haired wood-release user sighed, shaking his arms, before smiling.

"At least we don't need to worry about the constant fear of the Kyūbi tearing these ones apart," he joked before looking over the group. "Do you all know how to do the basic shadow clone jutsu?" The group nodded at the man, Chōchō looking slightly confused. After a split second, Shikadai clicked as to why they would be using them.

"Is this to shorten the time we need to handle elemental training?" The former Hokage smiled and nodded and Yamato simply grinned in affirmation. Shikadai rubbed at his eyes, he hadn't had his usual nap so he was starting to feel overexerted before he felt a sharp slap between his shoulders and winced. She glared at him and he straightened up, but not before sending a sharp, eyeliner-amplified glare back in her direction. When he turned back, he felt a flush run up his neck as the two older men chuckled.

Kakashi took the opportunity to hand the three a small piece of paper. Shikadai glanced over it, quietly puzzling it over. The paper had a bit of a different feel to it, not the same sort of smoothness, perhaps? After a minute of examination, he realised that he'd seen a piece of paper like this before and gently tried to push a small bolt of chakra through it. As the small push of energy left him, the small square of paper shifted into dirt and started to crumble. Shock ran through his body and his eyebrow rose as the small piece of paper crumbled away into dust. He twitched quickly and looked at the two elders who shared a small smirk on their faces.

"As the young Nara has so eloquently demonstrated, that little piece of paper there helps us learn what your affinity for nature release is," Kakashi nodded, before continuing, "Shikadai there evidently has an affinity for Earth natured chakra, hence the paper turning into dirt. For the two of you who still have your paper with you, I want you to push the slightest amount of chakra through the paper and we'll see what you get." Before he'd even finished his sentence, there was a yelp of shock from Chōchō, who'd evidently let her chakra go, only for her piece of paper to explode in flames and fall to the ground in a dust of ash. Inojin shook his hand as the paper became instantly waterlogged and started to rip. He nodded, as though he wasn't particularly astounded at the fact, before looking up at Kakashi and Yamato.

"Now what?"

The two men exchanged and grin and the former Hokage started to explain the next step.

Himawari lay on her back, staring at the sky. The heavy grey clouds that had made Konoha their home slowly glided across the sky, occasionally showing off small patches of grey sky. Her longish hair laid strewn out behind her, covering the damp grass behind her. A small droplet of water fell from the tree and fell on her head causing her to close her eyes. She'd gotten up early, cooked breakfast for her mother and sister, done a cursory cleaning of the house before starting her morning training regimen. Once Mina had gotten up, she'd led her sister through the same training, before packing her off to school. After walking her to the academy, she'd returned home and made sure her mother had eaten her food, before giving her a hug. After that she'd packed her bag to go for a walk in the village, before finding a small note folded in half on the kitchen table, one that hadn't been there that morning.

Curious, she'd unfolded it, looking over it, before dropping it in shock. After a few minutes of shock, she sat down and reread it, pouring over the small details that Boruto had written into it, looking for anything that could suggest where he'd go. The note was short, not long at all, much like most of his approaches to life.

_Hima,_

_I'm sorry, but I can't stay here anymore. Every time I walk through our house, I see Papa; his ghost is in the photos, in our hearts and minds. I can't take that. It makes me angrier and angrier till all I see is red. Seeing Mama like that hurts me too, I just don't want to see her that way, and maybe if I'm gone then I won't have to see it anymore. I'm sorry to dump this on you, sis, but me being around isn't helping anyone else. _

_I'm going away with Sara; you'll probably see stuff about it in the next few days. I want you to keep our house going, keep training and become a strong beautiful girl. I can't do anything more for you as a brother so I want you to keep Mina safe, and don't let Mama fall apart any more. If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to become the toughest person I can be and make everything right, even if this isn't the right way to go about it. Everything is confusing and dark but I'm going to make it a bit better if I can._

_I'll try and come back some time. _

_Boruto._

The raven-haired girl had then torn the letter up and thrown it into the bin, before throwing it out in the backyard. She knew at that moment that she couldn't afford to let her mother or sister see it, so she made it impossible for them to. However, after reading it, she felt her previously optimistic mood drop, so she'd left the house and sat under the tree that she was at present.

The bitter weather wasn't helping her mood any, so now she was completely drenched and her hair was filled with leaves and twigs. Rolling over, she combed her hand through her long hair and tried to pull out one of the larger twigs before she felt a hand close around hers. "Lemme get that for you." The rough voice of Aiko Inuzuka rang out through the gentle rain, before Himawari felt the twigs being roughly pulled out from her hair. If there was one thing the dog-nin was not, it was gentle. Her entire day to day revolved around brashness, rudeness and hurt feelings. The two had met when they were younger, during their parent's class meet-ups. She'd always been terrified of the older Inuzuka girl, who would run around, yelling, pouncing on things with her puppy or her hissing at things when she was angry.

It wasn't often that she'd do a kind thing for a person in any way, so Himawari found herself instantly suspicious of the actions of the girl. It wasn't that the Uzumaki considered was an untrusting type; she was always the first to offer a helping hand to someone in need, but when it came to Aiko, she always made sure that she'd employ healthy caution. She'd witnessed firsthand a great deal of the petty crime that the girl would get up to for no reason and had no desire to be dragged into it. The girl roughly ran her hands through the hair, pulling out the few remaining twigs, before finding one of the larger ones. She considered it for brief moments before throwing it and shouting out the name of her dog, Yuki.

The white blur flashed and intercepted the stick mid-air, before crunching it tightly between her teeth and landing with what could almost be interpreted as a grin. It was only then that Himawari noticed that both the girl and her dog were covered in mud and that some of that mud was caked in her hair, replacing the sticks with something that was probably worse. After all the sticks were completely removed, the Inuzuka girl lay down next to Himawari with a big grin on her face, apparently extremely proud of her actions.

"Good to see a bit of grime on you, Uzumaki!" Even her grin is a bit wolfish and she sits up quickly, baring her teeth fully, "Saw your brother moping around the village, but he disappeared 'fore I could kick his butt. What's up with that?" Ever since they were kids, Aiko had been (_for lack of a better word) _doggedly pursuing Boruto for a rivalry, challenging him to fights whenever they were in close contact. The two had sparred many times, with almost an even split in their strength, whilst improving each conflict. However, Boruto outright refused to acknowledge that the two were in any way rivals, no matter how much she infuriated or pushed his patience. So ever since, she'd spent a great of time trying to aggravate the older Uzumaki sibling, whilst coming to his sister for advice on how to anger him ever more. Depending on her mood at the time, Himawari would either oblige or deny the request. Today, however, was not a good one for her.

"I'm really not in the mood for it today Aiko, do you have to come to me with your secretly veiled crush on my brother?" Even though the relationship between the two was nothing of the sort, it was an easy way to infuriate the dog-nin, who would explode at any slight implication that she was into Boruto. As she decided to eloquently demonstrate at that very moment. Aiko stood up with a thunderous look on her face, her eyes narrowed and her previously grinning lips draw back in a snarl.

"I don't have a crush on your idiot of a brother, because unlike most of the girls around here, I'm not blind!" _Ouch. _"Not to mention the fact that I'm not interested in some ingrate that can't beat me in a race or fight." _He's beaten you at least four out of the eight times you've officially fought. _"Coward's not even showing his face around here because I beat him so hard." _Because Papa died and since then he's barely shown his face at home, let alone for his rival. _"He doesn't even go on missions anymore! Some balls he must have!" _He can't even concentrate on his talking, let alone a mission where he'd actually be in charge of other lives. _"And I bet he's too much of a pansy to deal with his Dad being gone." That last piece of vitriol caused Himawari's internal commentary to completely freeze up and stop functioning almost immediately. The older girl continued to babble for a few moments before noticing the dark look on the short girl's face. "Oh, I mean, I uh. That last bit about your Dad was a joke Hima, you know I wouldn't actually-"

"Shut up." The ice in Himawari's tone shreds straight the apology and causes the other girl to step back and look at her. She almost looked like she'd been slapped in the face by the force of the words.

"What the hell, Himawari, I said I wa-"

"Don't say a word, you just don't get it and you probably won't," she spoke softly, before grabbing her small backpack and standing up. "To answer your previous question, though, Boruto is gone. He's gone and he's not coming back. Good luck beating your rival now."

As the younger girl walked away, she felt a pain in her chest as she realised that she barely recognised her own tone and voice. Once out of range, she gritted her fist tight and felt a slight tear roll down her cheek. _I'm so sorry Papa. How did you let go of all that anger? _Gently she sat down on the pavement and watched as the rain came down again, remembering the times with her father that she'd bounced around on his shoulders, the times where he would run through the village on the rooftops carrying her on his back. There were so many bright memories of him, yet she could never remember him once looking sad. She wanted to be like that, she wanted to be that ray of sunshine, just like the flowers in her name were. As she got up and wiped the splattered mud off her shirt, she looked up at the sky, begging for him to hear her words wherever he was. _I'm gonna do it Papa. I'm going to show the world how beautiful peace is. _The cool rain starts to make her remember something, an old memory from years ago, of a meeting between her father and Kurama the Nine Tailed Fox.

Kurama had been a big part of her childhood and no matter how much the old fox had denied it, he'd felt the same way about her. He'd even shifted to a much smaller form on several occasions to accompany her when her parents had been too busy to. She'd always loved the giant creature and had ridden him a few times after she'd gotten bigger. It'd been a while since she'd last seen him though. She had absolutely no idea where he could be now. Her mind rushed with the ideas of where he could be and where he would have roamed to since she last saw him a year ago, before suddenly her mind came to a grinding halt.

If she left, she'd be leaving Mina and her mother alone with no one around them, and given that her mother still wasn't back to her normal self. She groaned a little, before twisting a strand of hair around her finger and pulling it taut. The habit was something she'd developed when she was little, out of her need for something to do whilst puzzling over something tricky. Suddenly the solution hit her and she veered in the opposite direction, increasing her running pace. The rain had also rolled in. Lightning cracks flashed followed rapidly by loud claps of thunder as she ran through the village. People ran from side to side, merchants throwing up the covers for their stores, parents with umbrellas covering their children dragging them into their homes. Her feet crashed through puddles, soaking through her shoes and drenching her feet.

Finally after pounding through the village, she slid to a stop outside of the Hyūga estate, looking up at the large wooden doors. She grasped the large knocker and hammered it once before walking over to the intercom. Himawari was well aware that she didn't need to use the knocker, but she always enjoyed bashing the archaic knocker into the monolithic door at least once. Quietly, the voice of Natsu, the senior maid came over the intercom, asking her to state her name and purpose. The Uzumaki smiled and waved through the camera before the two large doors swung wide open, allowing her to enter the peaceful Hyūga mansion. The hardened plastic cover was up, covering the garden from the torrential rain and she found her aunt sitting peacefully in the centre, her eyes closed. That is, until she noticed the presence of her niece and jumped up excitedly, embracing her. The two had been extremely close, given that Hanabi had always been in charge of caring for her and her siblings when they'd required a babysitter. The two released their embrace and the elder Hyūga ran her hands through Himawari's lengthy hair, sighing and shaking her head.

"You can't do anything with that much filth in your hair. Let's get it clean and then we can talk, alright?" She tilted her head and smacked the girl on the back roughly, before walking inside, letting Himawari walk off with one of the maids. The raven haired girl let herself being led to the bath and then her hair was thoroughly scrubbed and expunged. It was the first time in the while that she'd gotten to enjoy the hospitality at the estate and she enjoyed the pampering that she'd get. As the soapy (_apple-flavoured?_) suds washed though her hair she wondered just how long since she'd last had this sort of treatment. It'd been a while since she'd gotten to have a break from her family, especially with the slow recovery of her mother. The soft stroking through her hair lulled her into a sense of contentment and before she knew it, her hair was dried and she was being propelled towards her aunt's main room, and found herself kneeling at the table with her aunt, sipping cooling cups of tea. There was silence for a while before Hanabi huffed, an action which made her look quite a bit younger than she was.

"How's sis?" The topic of Hinata brought a quiet to the room and Himawari felt her head dip a little, the thought of her previous comatose mother filling her mind.

"She's getting a little better." She smiled as she thought about Hinata cooking that awful batch of cinnamon pancakes. "She comes out of the bedroom for a few hours at a time now, but she still spends a lot of time in there alone," she sighed, "She's still really hurting. I mean we all are and now…" The image of that letter flashed past her eyes and she grimaced, an action that was not missed by the observant eyes of her aunt, who instantly jumped on it.

"What was that look? What happened, Hima~?" Her delicate face showed her concern and Himawari looked away for a second before making eye contact.

"Boruto's gone. He left this morning. Mama doesn't know, I tore up the letter," she sighed once more, before taking a deep breath, "And I need to leave as well but I can't do that until I know Mama and Mina are okay, so I came here to talk to you about taking care of them, Aunt Hanabi and I know it's a lot to ask and I know it's really presumptuous of me to ask the clan head an-" Hanabi cut off her train of thought with a slice of her hand, holding it up to stop her. Himawari found herself choking off mid-sentence and falling into complete silence, the room going from reasonably bubbly to silent. The older Hyūga stared at her cup of tea, gently sipping from in a contemplative manner before looking back at her niece.

"I will bring Hinata and Mina here and we can keep them in our care till you return, Hanabi-chan. Mina can spend some time with her cousins," Hanabi smiled as she mentioned her twins, her pride and joy. The Uzumaki girl smiled gently at her own memories of the twins before nodding her head and bowing to her aunt. "Now Hima-chan, I trust you on this. Don't go alone; take at least one or two people with you. It's not safe to go alone with the current dynamic now." The branch-head smiled kindly as Himawari stood up gently, bowing once more and then showed herself out. The last thing she heard as she left the room was;

"When did it all get so bad?"

Being Haruno Sakura was a lot of work some days. Juggling the work at the hospital and the work around the busy household was hard enough, but now she was being forced to help out with the new Hokage selection. It was taking up patience that she didn't have. Fortunately Sasuke being around to lend a helping hand was taking most of the stress off her shoulders. He'd take the little ones to school and train with Sarada whilst she worked at the hospital, take care of them whilst they were sick; being the ideal family man. The two continuously bounced off each other and switched their roles, with one taking care of children whilst the other did work to keep the family going. But now a spanner had been completely thrown into the works, throwing off the entire balance of the family.

Sakura was fuming as she stood next to Sasuke, her anger bubbling below the surface as the stood outside the office of the Daimyō. She'd been brooding since their confrontation earlier with their daughter and despite all of her better judgement had let her husband make the final ruling. Noticing the frustration radiating from her, Sasuke turned around and pressed his lips against her forehead, before resting his forehead upon hers. The soft action helped cool her off slightly and she sighed in frustration before pushing him back.

"Sasuke, do you really think letting our daughter run off into the wilderness with Naruto's son is a good idea?" Her eyes stared into his, desperately trying to understand his thinking. "It's ridiculous to think that this is a good idea so I'm not sure wh-". Her words were cut off as Sasuke placed his finger across her lips. She glared at her husband, her green eyes almost glowing with hostility.

"Sakura, she's more than capable enough of being okay out there. Look at what we were doing when we were her age. We were in the middle of a war, fighting for our lives. Well, you were," he sighed at the last thought, before continuing on, "Do you really think our daughter, who possesses your strength and medical jutsu, not to mention my sharingan is really in that much danger on her own?" Sasuke gave her a tiny smile to try and appease her frustration, "Not to mention that she's travelling with a boy who mixes the bloodlines of the Uzumaki and Hyūga and has the potential to be one of the strongest members of his generation." He smiled and nodded his head knowingly. "She's probably safer out there with him then she is here in the village."

She didn't want to concede to her husband's sound logic but she had to admit that on a lot of levels, he was right. Sighing, Sakura ran her hand through her hair conceding her defeat. Sasuke gave her a private smile and took her hand, before knocking on the door. A muffled voice called them in, so they walked inside, hand in hand, where the rest of the Jounin council was waiting, along with some of the elders.

A few quiet nods were passed around and the two took their seats, glancing over the assembled group. Sakura smiled to Kakashi, who quietly nodded in return before closing his eyes, apparently tired from the politics already. Konohamaru was quietly sitting next to him with a serious expression on his face, obviously not wanting to be in the stuffy room any longer than he had to. While he had grown up from the little brat he was when he followed Naruto around, he still had trouble sitting still for long periods of time or listening to old men talk about boring details that had little to no consequence. A few miscellaneous jōnin were there as well as the few remaining members of the Konoha twelve.

Content that every member was present, the Daimyō began to talk. He welcomed everyone to the meeting, and reminiscing over Naruto's time as Hokage. The conclusion of the speech brought up that the time has come to make a decision about the next Hokage. No sooner had those word passed his lips, the entire room's mood sharpened, with a cold edge coming over the assembled. Eyes were either focussed on Konohamaru or Sasuke and Sakura could sense the edge in her husband as he fiddled nervously in his seat. Even this many years after his fall from grace, he was still worried about how people in the village viewed him, so being stared at directly by this many important people brought him a great deal of anxiety. She slid her hand onto his leg and gently tightened it. As long as he knew that she was there to support him all the way, he'd be at least a little steadier.

"So right now, we have the choice between Konohamaru Sarutobi and Sasuke Uchiha." The two men stood up and bowed, before retaking their seats. "They both have their individual merits, so I'd like to ask that each of the men speak now, and give some reasoning to why they should take the place of the Hokage." Konohamaru's eyes passed over to Sasuke, so the Uchiha stood up with a sigh and looked around the room. _Do your best, Sasuke. _Sakura hoped to her core that he would make the right decision now.

"I've been a lot of things in my life," he began, his voice strong, showing no signs of wavering, "An international criminal, a murderer, a sole surviving member of my clan, a brother, a father. " He glanced around the room and nodded to himself, "However, there is one thing I only wanted to be once. Hokage." The room is still and all eyes are boring into him. Sakura can almost see the shiver run through him as he starts his next sentence. "I promised myself after that day that I didn't want anything to do with the role. I couldn't do what Naruto did and even now, decades after it, I'm still not a person who is a valid option for Hokage."

He sighed and stood up a little straighter. "I know that my say isn't really important in this, but I want you to know that if you pick me over Sarutobi, you're making the mistake of your life. Not only yours, but you're putting this village under what could… potentially be an incompetent leadership." Sakura flinched as his teeth gritted, knowing just how much this was hurting him to depreciate his own ability. "So, that's all I have to say. Konohamaru?" The other man nodded and took his stand.

His speech was elegant, something that had obviously been practiced many times in front of a mirror. That much was obvious from the perfectly timed facial expressions, to the jokes. It summed up why he was Naruto's successor; he embodied that goal for perfect peace and the breaking of the cycle of hatred. Sakura noticed a small smile pass across his face and realised that he'd probably talked to Konohamaru about this beforehand, probably quite some time ago. She reached under the table once more and clenched her husband's mouth, feeling a smile pass over her own face. It was quiet for a while once the Sarutobi sat down and Kakashi broke the silence, looking over the assembled whilst clearing his throat.

"Well in that case I guess we should get to the vote, should we not?" The congregation nodded and the Daimyō instructed the congregation to place their votes with a simple raised hand. Sasuke's hand clenched when his name was announced to the group and it tightened a few notches when a few more hands rose than expected. Sakura's teeth gritted further when she realised it was nearly half the room. Apparently the dissuading speech that Sasuke had attempted to give did nothing to get rid of those people who wanted a change in the village's leadership. The call for the Sarutobi votes came and it was almost an even split. The sweat coming from Sasuke's hand had increased tenfold, making the clinch he had on her hand slipper but she kept holding onto his hand in desperate belief. It was only then that the kunoichi realised that one member had not voted and that everyone's eyes were boring into his closed ones. Kakashi looked up and laughed.

"Ah, an even split, how fun," he chuckled, before leaning forwards in his chair, "Well, I've never been one for drama, so my vote goes to the young Sarutobi. Of course," he gestured to the Daimyō and smiled softly, "The final decree comes from you, sir." The Daimyō nodded his head and looked from the cool and collected Konohamaru to the slightly flustered Sasuke.

"Then, by my decree, Sarutobi Konohamaru will be the Eight Hokage of Konoha. Congratulations, young one, you're going to be living up to your grandfather." There was a raucous clap and even those who voted for the Uchiha were clapping along with smiles on their faces. Although Sakura knew that they were probably hiding their disappointment in their loss. Kakashi stood up, and immediately left after a whispered congratulation to Konohamaru. Sasuke and Sakura both shook his hand before politely excusing themselves, and bursting out into the fresh air of the outside.

Sasuke stretched out next to her as the sunlight illuminated them and she smiled, glad to see him happy. The light seemed to illuminate the best part of him; the part that he let no-one else see. Afternoon light on their backs, they wandered through the forest hand in hand, enjoying the small break from the rainy weather that had plagued Konoha for weeks. However, the brief break in the woods didn't hold out for long and soon they were flying through the trees, talking light-heartedly. Sakura smiled broadly, enjoying the break from seriousness that had plagued them of late. She watched as her husband bounded through the trees beside her and noticed just how much of a weight had lifted off his shoulders. Ever since Naruto had died, he'd been colder, resembling his teen self far more than he had in decades and it had worried her more than she'd admit. Now, he was back to his old self, smiling a bit, laughing occasionally and talking about the kids. Even as the rain started to come down, he was basically glowing and she realised that's just how worried he was about becoming Hokage. She inwardly thanked Kakashi for his choice and continued her path through the trees.

When they arrived in Konoha, they found a very aggravated boarder guard who stopped them immediately. It seemed that word about Sarada leaving the village had already gotten around, especially given that she'd left with the son of the former Hokage. Not to mention the fact that both Sarada and Boruto were chūnin, and their disappearance would affect the villages ranks. The guard looked harassed as he asked them if they'd seen their daughter. Before Sakura could answer, Sasuke spoke over her, his lips pursed, "The two have gone to Suna at my behest, and they'll return in a few weeks, it's nothing to worry about."

The guard looked at him with a doubtful expression. With a sigh, he shrugged and raised his hands in the air, before radioing into the others looking for the pair. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as they continued on their way towards home before realising the bigger issue.

"Sasuke, how are we going to keep them from realising? I mean sure, that excuse will work for a while, but what about in a month or two." She huffed. Then, a little quieter, "I wish Sarada didn't leave." Sasuke looked at her and nodded sympathetically.

"I'd rather our daughter be gone for a few months and save Naruto's son from becoming like I was, then for her not to go, and for him to become something awful." He smiled gently, "Let's trust our daughter on this." Sakura scrunched her face before nodding. Sasuke was right on that at least. Sarada had always been smart, and at the least she could trust that her daughter would be able to keep Boruto on the right path. Whether that would work long term however? Sakura couldn't share in Sasuke's belief that it was the right decision to make.


	6. Onslaught

_Everything was so damp. It was weird. People shouldn't feel this damp. There shouldn't be so much vivid redness on their clothes, or in their hair. People didn't look like this normally. She looked at the sky and it was that sickening red too, that blood-red stain spreading across the sky, as if that blue was a sponge that was trying to suck the entire colour stain from the boy in front of her. She reached out for his blonde hair and-_

Sarada woke with a start, her eyes flashing around quickly, trying to shake off the throes of her nightmare. She panted, wiping the drips of sweat that were beading on her forehead, barely able to contain her fear from the nightmarish landscape. The night air was cool on her skin. The change from the constant rain that had plagued Konoha was leaving her feeling more refreshed then she had in quite some time. Across from the ashes of the fire, Boruto lay quietly on the ground, his eyes tightly squinted together tight in the throes of an apparent nightmare. His fitful rest was plagued by those things that he kept tight-lipped about during the day hours, gritting his teeth and mouthing things slowly. She closed her eyes and let her Sharingan activate, and 'listened' in to the boy's silently moving lips.

He was whispering inaudibly his father's name, his mother's and sister's. It seemed that he was watching them be hurt in front of him in some way because every time he'd mouth a name, his face would violently scrunch, as well as his body jerking around like he'd been hurt by whatever was going on. She couldn't bring herself to watch it anymore and was about to move to his side when he screamed aloud and violently rolled, crunching his head into the root he was lying next to. Sarada winced at his violent return to the world of the living, teeth gritted and cursing. His pale amethyst eyes opened and he found himself facing across the dark, eyes being met by the crimson of the Sharingan.

"Man, Sara, do you have to watch me with those things?" he grunted, before rubbing his eyes, "You know they scare the shit out of me." _To be fair, _Sarada thought, _it's not really his fault that he's scared of the Sharingan. _When they'd been kids growing up, Sasuke had always pulled pranks using his Sharingan as a killing point when telling ghost stories. As a result, he'd left Boruto traumatised and fearful of the Sharingan, going so far as to fall off the tree branch they were both standing on when Sarada had first activated the dōjutsu. Snapping back to the present, she shrugged, before allowing the blood-red to fade from her eyes, the tomoe spinning into nonexistence.

For a while, the two sat quietly in the evening night, listening to the sounds of the insects chirruping and singing to one another. They'd travelled for three days with only a few hours of rest each day, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and Konoha. The two were well known captains, working determinedly for the Shinobi of their city, fighting and defending the civilian populace from threats. They were also tipped to become jōnin with the next selection, but here they were, throwing that in the wind. There was a law that any person who left the village for more than two months was no longer a member of the village, and if they committed crimes against any other nation, they would be placed in the bingo book classing them as missing shinobi. This ranking meant that any shinobi was allowed to bring them in and collect the reward. She hoped there wouldn't be any cause for them to join the ranks of that book.

Boruto stayed silent, his faint eyes barely visible in the darkness, the soft rise and fall of his chest as his panting subsided filling the vacuous night. For a while, there was nothing, merely the two teens staring at each other and then Boruto spoke up, his voice a bit shaky.

"Sara, have you ever thought about what would have happened if your dad had been the one to go to the outer nations?" That tremor ran through his voice again and she realised how much it was burning at him. She wondered just how much of his day was spent on hypotheticals and what ifs. Bitterly, she shook her head, before she got up and moved to his side, pulling his head in against her neck. The teen shuddered under the contact and she found herself wondering how long it had been since he let someone this close outside of sparring or combat. After a while of being caught up in her own thoughts, she realised that her friend had fallen to sleep on her shoulder, his breath light and his face no longer contorted in concentration. His longer, shaggy blonde hair was swaying slightly with the wind and she smiled, before starting to doze off herself, thinking back to when they were kids.

_The small boy and girl giggled and swiped their fists back and forth at one another, each trying to catch the other off guard while their parents stood to one side with a smile on their face. The dark haired girl swung her fist, only finding air and found the boy standing a step further away than she thought, laughing loudly. Catching him off guard, she tackled him around his waist and knocked him to the floor with a smirk. As he struggled to catch his breath, she sat on his chest, pinning him to the ground. Her parents smiled broadly and her mother gave her a thumbs-up, whilst her father nodded proudly. The blonde boy was scooped up off the ground by a blonde man who had a huge smile spread across his face and was congratulating him whilst teasing the boy for being beaten by the girl. The two children found each other's eyes, and both smiled widely before turning back to their parents. _

She jerked away from the throes of sleep and found herself lying in the same position as she had previously been, with Boruto lying in her lap. Grasping under his jacket, she got a hair and started ruffling it around. The boy moaned a little bit and swatted at her hands, until she started to pull tighter on the strands of blonde. When he eventually, managed to open his eyes, he glared at the Uchiha, before walking over and grabbing his pack.

"We better get moving, or we're never going to make it to the border." He brusquely shrugged his pack over his shoulder and walked to the edge of the clearing and she nodded, grabbing her own. The two took off at a quick pace, the only traces of their camp being a few smouldering coals and a broken branch.

The blistering pace was painful for Sarada, as she'd twisted her ankle the day before, after slipping on a wet branch and getting her foot caught between two different branches. After a while, the pair got into a groove and she managed to alleviate a little of the pressure from her ankle. It was at times like this that she wished that she'd had her mother's gift for the healing jutsu. She'd done a little bit of healing to it, but she still wasn't great with sprains and minor muscular aches. However, for the moment at least, she was forced to match the rough pace set by her friend and the two pounded through the shrubbery.

All of a sudden, Boruto slid to a halt and kneeled down, his eyes squinting hard ahead. Sarada suddenly felt an enormous chakra surge and rolled to a stop beside him, coming up in a crouch. As she pulled a twig out of her hair, she blinked her Sharingan into activation and found the source of his alarm. It was the figure of a slender woman who was radiating a weird alien chakra.

It made her shiver just detecting the radiating energy. Throughout her life, her parents had introduced her to many different people from the many different villages. Different villages tended to have a different aura, but this was a completely different entity, something that sent a chill to her spine. Clasped around one arm was a weird attachment to her hand, something resembling a claw. It was made out of some weird black alloy that she'd never seen before. Even more bizarre was the odd club that the woman had on her back. It wasn't like any club that she'd ever seen before, with an odd metal tip that had a hole in it and the club end didn't even look that sturdy.

Frowning, she looked over at Boruto, only to find that he was no longer sitting in the same position. She panicked, looking over to the woman and noticed Boruto standing behind the girl hand outstretched. She rapidly whirled, claw outstretched. Sarada's hand slipped into her pocket, whipping a kunai out, drawing back her hand as fast as she could, before launching it straight out at the claw. For a few unbearably slow milliseconds, her sharingan flittered as it tracked the knife's progress before it collided perfectly with the claw, knocking it off course, giving Boruto the time to get clear of the blade's path. The Uchiha cursed as she jumped out to his side, holding up her tanto, preferring its chances against the stubby claw.

With a mutter of "I could have handled it," Boruto stood back and straightened up, looking at the woman.

"You aren't from the elemental nations, are you?"

The woman looked at him with her head tilted to the side, her eyes looking him up and down. As she responded, the words that came forth were as alien as her chakra, coming across harsh and fumbled compared to their flowing speech. Her brow furrowed before she shook her head and knelt down on the ground, inscribing a small circle on the ground. Whilst she drew, the pair looked at each other quizzically, before looking down at the ground once more. The small dirt drawing was of a smiling face with a question mark alongside it.

The two glanced at each other once more before nodding carefully. She smiled and started to babble in her own language once more before realising what she was doing. Her mouth twisted and she sat down before roughly scribbling a drawing of two stick figures holding hands with a small heart drawn around them.

Gesturing wildly between the two of the shinobi, the stranger then pointed down at the drawing, trying to get them to notice the similarity between them and the crudely drawn figures on the ground. A flush spread through Sarada's cheeks and she shook her head rigorously. Boruto grimaced and softly shook his head, his long hair swinging back and forth, the slightest tinges of pink touching his cheeks. The woman smirked, evidently glad to have created some kind of reaction from these people, before she sat down and smiled, pointing at her chest.

"Mélisande." The way she enunciated it led Sarada to realise that the woman was telling them her name and she returned the favour.

"Sarada."

"Boruto," the boy concluded their introductions with a slight nod of his head.

The woman smiled and slowly mulled the names over, quietly repeating them under her breath till she nodded.

"Boh-roo-toh. Salada?" Sarada shook her head and repeated her name a few more times for her allowing her to get the hang of the sound.

"Boruto. Sarada." Sarada smiled, before finally relinquishing her hold on her Sharingan. As her eyes faded back to their natural colour, the foreign girl had a questioning look, pointing her right, steel-clad hand at it, before drawing a question mark in the sand. The Uchiha sighed, before getting her own stick ready. This was going to take some explaining.

Himawari looked around her surroundings in awe before turning to face the cave. She wrapped tightly in a coat she'd stolen from a stand in the little village nearby. She'd make sure to put it back once she was off of the mountain. The wind was freezing, and she could barely stand up in the knee deep snow. It'd been a long time since she'd been exposed to anything this cold and she barely managed to make it inside the cave before collapsing. The howling wind continued to whip around in the background and she after taking a few moments to recover, she started to push onwards into the cave.

For the last couple of weeks since she'd left the village, Himawari had been following the trailleft by Kurama, through sightings and marks. The giant nine-tailed fox had only been seen a few times since he'd blessed her father's grave, with him being spotted running past the outskirts of Amegakure, heading in the direction of the Land of Iron. That had led her there, where'd she'd been following the trail of heavy paw prints before the filled in with snow. Fortunately, the enormous trail of chakra that followed Kurama wherever he went made it a lot easier to track him down in an area with such sparse population.

So she'd found herself here at this freezing cold cave, in the middle of a blizzard. There was a soft rumbling coming from deep within the cave and she slowly walked towards it, the rumbling increasing as she got closer. The coldness of the cave intensified, with little trails of water dripping down the walls and stalagmites protruding viciously from the walls. It was so devoid of life that the young girl felt completely intimidated. She'd done a lot of travel with her Jōnin sensei but she'd always had her teammates alongside her. This was her first time venturing solo and she was terrified.

Suddenly, a shockwave ran through the cave, throwing Himawari to the side. Quickly, she got to her feet, worried about the potential for a cave-in, but as quickly as it started, the erratic rocking stopped. Brushing herself off, she cautiously made her way deeper into the cave system. The deeper she got, the less light shone, so she was forced to pull out her flashlight and proceeded through the twining tunnels until finally she came into an enormous cavern which was filled with a soft emerald light from the small crystals filling it. In the centre of the room was a familiar enormous orange ball, his side rising and falling heavily. Awestruck, she made her way to his side, noticing that his pelt was dull with dust. In her many times seeing the great fox, she'd never once seen his sleek fur so pale and unkempt.

_What could have brought Kurama to this state? _

Himawari finally got close enough to reach him and place a hand upon his fur. Upon doing so, she froze with shock at how cold he was. The way she remembered him was a glowing ball of heat that she'd nuzzle against and sleep alongside, not this cold, matted mess. She slowly walked around the giant, following his fur until she met his scruff. The teen made her way to his maw and stood in front of his snout, but the giant fox didn't even flinch.

"Kurama, why are you ignoring me?" Her voice echoed in the empty cavern and she was relieved to finally see one of the great eyes open. There was a great groan before he spoke.

_Child, why are you in this frozen waste?_

" Because I couldn't leave you alone, 'Rama!"

_Hmph. I'm not the all-powerful demon that was once feared by all in the land anymore, am I? Just a little girl's pet._

"You know that's not how I think of you. Why are you so dirty? How'd you get here?" The girls bubbly nature started to bubble up as the questions surged. "Why did you run away after Papa's funeral? Why didn't you tell me where you were going?" Her face fell with the final question. The two of them had always had a special bond, from the first time she'd ridden the giant fox at two years old.

_Himawari, you are as stubborn as ever. _The great fox shuffled around before answering her questions. _I'm in this mangy state because of an encounter with a terrifying force that I've never seen the likes of before, even during the last war. I got here because I ran the miles from the swarm of gnats that surrounded me with their painful weapons. _The giant fox looked away and she could swear that he looked ashamed. _I ran from Naruto's funeral because it was the one thing in this world that scares me more than dying, and I've done that a few times. And I'm sorry that I didn't at least tell you where I was going, little one. You know that you're important to me, but I'd just lost the only friend I'd had in millennia. _

Himawari could have almost smiled at the fox looking so remorseful but kept her lips tight given the serious nature of the conversation. Instead, she moved closer and stroked her hand up and down the fur just in front of his nose. A soft rumble and exhale of air pushed her hair backwards in a rush. After the rush of air had stopped, she rested her forehead against his muzzle, rubbing her forehead back and forth.

"Kurama, I need you." The giant head tilted and moved around slightly so that one giant eye was looking at the teenage girl, his giant red iris focussing on her small curved face. His lip curled up and he sighed loudly.

_I don't think you need the strength of a beaten down bijū, child. Why would you need someone who got so overwhelmed by those outsider nation gnats?_

"Kurama, I need you because you're my friend! You aren't just some throwaway weapon that broke!" Her shout filled the empty cavern and Kurama started at the sudden increase in her volume. "You are just as much a member of the Uzumakis as Boruto or Mama. I'd follow you anywhere." A soft rumbling filled the air, the giant fox propping himself up on his elbow. He shook his head gently.

_I've never had a family, except for maybe the other bijū. _ _When Naruto started to call me his friend I couldn't believe that this moronic jinchūriki had the guts to call some giant chakra beast his comrade, let alone his friend. _The giant furry head shook once more, before he continued on. _So when he told me that my whiskers had appeared on his firstborn child, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Is that what family is? I finally felt a true connection to you and your brother, because you were born with my gift, I was stunned, _He growled, obviously uncomfortable with being so candid in his emotions. Himawari walked closer and reached up on tip-toes, barely able to reach, and brushed the tips of her fingers along the underside of the fox's jaw.

The giant mass of fur shifted. After he changed his weight from his left arm to his right, he scooped her up and placed her on the crown of his head. It was a movement the two had done since she'd been tiny and had always wanted to "Ride the Fox!" As she was placed upon his head, she ran her hands down behind his ears, scratching them roughly. The giant rumbled happily before standing up, and shaking his coat violently. Himawari gasped loudly, rocking back and forth on the fox's head, being thrown from side to side and just barely holding on to the tuft of fur on his crown.

Slowly, he padded out through the cave, his powerful nose keeping him from getting lost in the maze of passages and chasm. Finally, they burst out into the freezing cold air. Kurama's eyes blazed viciously as he let forth a vicious howl and looked around. Himawari didn't even need to hear his words to know what he meant. The Nine-Tails had returned to the land. When his roar stopped echoing around the valley, he launched himself off the cliff, landing on the side of the mountain in a slide. The huge weight and crushing sound triggered what Himawari could only guess was an avalanche.

"KURAMA YOU IDIOT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as they slid down the mountain face, struggling to hold onto the fur, her leather gloves starting to slip on the oily fur. As he bounded downwards, she could hear the slight chuckles of the fox as he bounded further and forth down the hill. Whipping her head around, Himawari glanced behind her back and her eyes widened. There was a rapidly approaching wall of snow and debris pounding down the sheer cliff face, hurtling ever closer.

"KURAMA," she howled, "IF I GET CRUSHED BY A TONNE OF SNOW, I AM SO GOING TO COME BACK AND HAUNT YOU TILL YOU GO INSANE!" As she finished her sentence, Kurama picked up his pace, pounding faster and faster down the face of the mountain, even as the avalanche gained speed. Finally they came to a stop at the base of the mountain and the giant fox spun around, facing the avalanche head on. Himawari screamed, shutting her eyes as the wall of ice and snow came sliding toward them at an alarming rate. Her eyes squeezed tighter as it came closer and closer, before it finally came to a stop, just barely touching Kurama's nose, Gently, the girl opened her eyes, and balked when she saw the wall of snow right in front of her face, barely able to comprehend how close they'd come to being crushed. The fox snorted with amusement, before shaking his fur and throwing snow into the sky.

_It's time for a new start. Something is changing in the world and I fear that this era of peace is over for us, child. _She sighed, nodding. It was almost like a change in the wind, or a faint change of energy. Ever since her father's funeral, she'd noticed that people's faces were not filled with smiles, that people were so much less energetic than they'd been. For a girl who'd grown up in such an era of peace, seeing people's faces filled with so much anger and spite was scary. Her father had always told stories about the way people used to be before the war and she'd never thought that she'd see people like that. Whilst she was starting to drift off in thought, Kurama started to move again, bounding towards the exit from the valley.

The pair ran through the valley, trees and snow flying past as Kurama's huge feet ripped up and threw snow everywhere. Her eyes lost focus suddenly and she was in front of a giant Kurama, his fangs bared in a toothy grin.

"W-where am I?"

_We're in your mind's eye, Himawari. This is the place where we can talk without talking. It's far easier to talk this way when I'm on the move than trying to shout over the wind. _She nodded, the idea was sound.

"How come we've never talked like this before then?" In the 12 years of her life, she'd never realised that they could communicate this way.

_I never needed to, but it's because of the traces of my chakra within your genes. Because of them, I can tap into your mind in the same way that I would if I was sealed into a jinchūriki. So I decided that now was as good a time as any to tap into the skill so that we could strategize for how we're going to respond to this threat. _

Perturbed, Himawari looked at him, before sitting down in the odd pool.

_Ah, right. Those gnats that hurt me, the one's that I mentioned to you earlier. They aren't the only ones. They aren't just some rouge ninja threat that might be a threat to a village. This is an entire legion of people who want to ruin the nations. They are only seeking to destroy us and I don't know about you, child, but I like the fact that I'm alive and free. I would rather not be captured and chained inside of someone again. _

"I…" she stuttered, before she managed to spit out her thoughts. "Why do they want to destroy us? We've done nothing wrong!"

_Some people seek only to destroy, conquer and attain complete power. People like Madara. At the place where these people are right now, they merely want to take our lands and control us and by extension, our power. Your father set this in motion accidentally, by showing them of our existence. From what I know, they merely thought of this area as uninhabited wastelands. Now they know that there are powerful individuals in this land, they seek to control it. _

"Kurama, how do you know all this?"

_Amazing what people will say around a tiny fox. Or, rather, what they will say when they don't even know they're being observed._

"So you travelled to their homeland?"

_I did, but I made a mistake and was discovered. I was besieged by soldiers who hit me again, and again with these bizarre weapons. I fled with them hot on my tail and I crawled through that cave to lick my wounds and feel the loss of my friend in privacy. _

"I understand, 'Rama." She nodded gently, finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together. "Do you have a plan?"

_I think we need to find the other bijū, Himawari. If we have their combined strength on our side, then we'll be a formidable resistance. You've got your father's spark Himawari, if anyone can bring the bijū back together, it would be you._

Inojin swung upside down, his long hair dangling freely as he adjusted his mother's flower arrangements on the hanging sign. Did he have to hang upside down to do it? Not particularly. But was it the most fun for him to do? Definitely. So he continued to reorganise the pots, cutting out the dead flowers and spraying the fresh ones with some water from a squirt-gun. Below him, Ino shouted directions lazily on where to put the newest bouquets as she passed them up. Most days, Inojin was expected to handle the day-to-day of the flower shop, both selling and arranging flowers, but when Ino had time off, she'd always make time to come down and help him out, or scold him because his habits had gotten too slack. Gently twisting to his right, he clipped off a messy, dead flower and dropped off the rail, landing next to Ino who nodded, impressed by his work.

"You're getting better, Inojin." Her praise was well put as usual and he beamed at the compliment, smiling as she put an arm around his shoulder. "Of course, you still need to work on your arrangements, but right now, they're passable." She smirked as he sank down a little at her words. "I think your dad wants your help up at the studio, he wants to do an art lesson with you today." Inojin grimaced. He loved his dad's lessons; however, sometimes it was just a hectic mess of ink spray. Not to mention that whenever he didn't get a technique quite right, Sai would dump a bucket of water on him. It wasn't exactly the most effective punishment, but it would usually get him to shape up enough. He pulled off his gardening gloves, and slid down his hair tie, before tying his hair back into his long ponytail. With a quick wave goodbye to Ino and grabbing a quick drink of water, he jogged off to his father's studio, which was situated near the edge of the village.

As he ran through the village, he went past the entrance gate and slowed down, noticing four strangers. They appeared to be having a heated argument with the chūnin captain who was on duty at the gates. The two were shouting loudly, although the man who was visiting didn't appear to speak their language. His aggressive shouting made it clear that he didn't want to have a bar of anything that the guard was saying.

"Out of my way, you filthy foreigner!"

The chūnin man grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him backwards, forcing that big man onto the back-foot. It happened in a flash. The weird weapon strapped to the man's back was drawn and smashing into the chūnin's face. The shinobi staggered backwards, blood streaming into his eyes. His hand fumbled for his kunai, but before he could make it to the hilt, the man spun with his stick, revealing that the tip had a sort of sharpened knife attached to it.

It happened so quickly that Inojin didn't even have time to register it.

Carving a path through the air, the blade sliced straight into the chūnin man's throat, piercing the man's jugular and wrenching it open. Blood gurgled out and spattered forth from the man's throat, dripping all over the well-trodden path. Inojin found that he was barely able to move at the suddenness of the attack. The complete brutality behind it made him unable to move at all.

A piercing scream filled the air as a woman behind him panicked. The sudden noise helped him to unfreeze and he ran across the gap. He spun and slammed his boot, hard, into the side of the stranger, knocking him flying into the dirt. One of the stranger's friends already had his weapon out and was point it at him. Inojin had seen how dangerous that blade was so he darted to the side to avoid a direct stab. However, as he moved, he heard a loud click and spun to face the man, watching in horror as a flash of light came forth, followed by a searing pain and warmth that he could only assume was blood rushing. His hand clasped to his cheek and he held it tightly against his face, panicking at the injury.

It wasn't that he hadn't been injured before, rather that he had never been blindsided so badly before. Blood trickled from the wound and he tried focussed back in on the fight. The man was taking advantage of his panic to advance with his weapon, the blade swinging down in a way that would slice his throat. He quickly rotated backwards, flipping onto his hands, kicking his foot upwards, deflecting the strike from the blade. Finishing the maneuverer, he balanced on his hands and started to roll backwards into a crouch when the boot from the third of the strangers came belting into the side of his head, knocking him across the ground roughly.

Semi-conscious, he collapsed into the dust, trying to catch his breath as his head pounded with blood. He looked at the men who had regrouped and all had their rifles aimed at him, prepping them in the same way that that first man had before he'd fired that weird projectile. He'd barely been able to dodge one of them, there was no way that he'd be able dodge them in the long run, especially with injuries as serious as the ones he'd taken. Quickly he cycled through the options in his mind and decided that this just wasn't a battle he could win.

He wouldn't be able to use any jutsu no matter how he spun it so he was going to be at a huge disadvantage. Inojin dipped his hand into his pocket and found a kunai attacked to an explosive tag. Tightly gripping it within his hand, he hurled it at the other men before launching himself backwards against a wall and pulling out a flare from his belt, arming it quickly before throwing it on the group in front of him. As it left his hand, he jammed his eyes tightly closed. If he could keep the strangers incapacitated, he'd at least be able to rally for help. He needn't have worried as a few jōnin dropped in, quickly and brutally apprehending one of the strangers.

However, the other two men disappeared in the confusion and smoke, leaving their companion to his certain fate. Inojin felt a rush of relief run through him, before he was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion, falling from the roof, colours running and fading out like a horrible watercolour. It only took a few moments before his body smacked in the ground with an almighty thump. Desperately he tried to drag himself upwards, but his arms weren't responding as he slid down the wall. He was dragged swiftly in the abyss of unconsciousness and as his eyes closed as he heard the muffle shouts for a medical unit.

When he awoke, he felt an incredible pain searing through his face, as well as a bright green light colouring the periphery of his vision. Propping himself up with a hiss, he glanced left and noticed his mother with her hands extended. The glow from the healing jutsu faded away. Before he could say anything, she grabbed him and pulled him into her arms, ignoring his grunts of pain.

"You idiot, how could you rush into a fight with enemies like that, you should have known that you never go into battle against a completely unknown foe like that! Did you learn nothing from our training?" He winced at the onslaught, before nodding apologetically. The older Yamanaka sighed before taking a seat next to him. Gingerly he touched his face, wining at the pain as well as the addition of a new line of scar tissue.

"I'm sorry Inojin, but I couldn't heal that scar completely. There's something weird going on with it blocking the chakra. It'll be there for a few years at least." She grimaced, obviously disappointed by her failure, "I guess it'll let you remember not to let up on your training at least. I'm sad that you have this blemish that'll make you look less beautiful, but I'm sure you'll find a way around it." He sighed, as usual Ino had a little bit of focus on appearance. She reached down and smiled, before giving him something he'd never expect from her, "You did so well, Inojin. I'm so proud of you."

He looked up in shock, Ino wasn't one to compliment people lightly, especially not in regards to his training. "I mean, you obviously weren't being responsible charging into a fight with three enemies, none of who you knew the strength or capabilities for, but you were a hero. Because of the amount of noise you made with the fight, Temari and I managed to get to you before they could hurt you badly." Suddenly, there was a flash of realisation as Inojin remembered the subjugation of the third member of the enemy and he quickly grabbed his mother's hand.

"Mum, what happened to the guy they captured?"

"He…" She shifted in her chair. "He killed himself with a poison capsule before we could even get him into the interrogation unit." She smiled quietly, bitterly nodding as if it was something she should have expected. "We did however, manage to get a hold of his weapon so that we can learn something about him," Ino finished, obviously proud of the fact. Capturing a new weapon to deconstruct it was a common practice, especially given just how powerful this weird weapon was. "We found that it's used by channelling your chakra in a specific manner, as there are artificial chakra rods in it which launch a projectile of raw chakra out of the barrel." She nodded at herself, glad that she'd remembered it all. Inojin wondered over the weapon; a weapon which could launch raw chakra at you as a weapon? It was terrifying to think about and he knew just how painful it was to be on the firing end of it.

"From what we can tell, it takes a large portion of chakra to use, so it takes a fair amount of time between shots, not to mention that they need to do a series of cleanings before being able to fire it again. It's why they started attacking you with a combination of physical attacks, one after the other, to give each member time to clean and prepare their rifle." It made sense. Inojin had found it odd how they'd fired only one shot, before going immediately on a physical offensive, rather than holding back with a ranged attack.

"Wait, I found a few things out myself, mum!" She glanced across at him, her eyebrow raised.

"What is it Inojin? At the moment, you're our only reliable source for how their weapons and fighting style works."

"When they fire the weapon, it clicks exceptionally loudly, there's a few moments of silence and then it fires. It's not just a case of the trigger firing immediately. There's a noticeable delay, not enough for say, a civilian to dodge, but for any shinobi expecting it, it should be doable."

Ino smiled and nodded. He knew that she was always proud when he worked hard at his studies, something he'd prided himself on for a long time, even if he didn't always have the best practical skills. "Also, when they fire, the projectile moves at about the same speed as a thrown kunai, if not a little bit faster." His mother nodded again, scribbling down the notes onto a piece of paper, making sure to note all of it. "And then there's that knife-like thing on the end. As soon as they have that thing pointed at you, you need to be completely on guard. The guy who took out the chūnin captain spun his so quickly that he pierced the jugular of the guard before he even processed it. Then again, when they are aiming, they also have it pointed outwards, which means you can't take the direct route to attacking them, but if you stand back you put yourself at risk of getting shot with it." He took a deep breath as he finished. "That's about all I can remember."

Finishing off her notes, Ino nodded gently and put them in her bag. Giving his shoulder one last squeeze, she stood up and walked to the door, before turning around once more. "I'll see you for dinner, they'll discharge you later tonight." With that, she left with a smile on her face, before three more popped around the corner. Chōchō and Shikadai had a relieved expression on their faces, whilst Takara looked a bit nervous. The dark skinned Akimichi walked in and flopped down on top of the bed, causing Inojin to yelp in pain, dragging a smirk across her face. Shikadai, true to form, stole the chair and kicked his boots up onto the bed, leaning back comfortably in the chair. Contrary to the other two, Takara quietly leant against a wall and gave Inojin a half-hearted smile. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could even get a word out, Shikadai cut across her.

"I can't believe you got your ass handed to you this badly by a bunch of strangers Inojin." Inojin flinched at the stab, knowing that it was fully true. "Not only that, but it took two jōnin to bail your sorry ass out. You're letting down the InoShikaCho brand name!" The Nara's snarky laughing filled the room, and Chōchō giggled a bit, before turning serious.

"Seriously though, how strong were they? Right now all we know is rumours are running wild in the village, and to be honest, the fact that one of them was 9 foot tall and clad in steel armour, well. They're nooot exactly trustworthy, ya feel?" Inojin snorted, before wincing in pain from the stretching of his recently healed face.

"Well, let me begin by saying there was more blood than any fight we've ever been in before…" As he explained, Inojin watched his friends. Just the ways their faces lit up and altered between expressions. Even Takara, who was no more than an acquaintance, seemed to care about what happened to him. It made him realise how much more he was fighting for than just his village.

Sasuke pounded through the pouring rain, bitterly spitting out the water that made its way into his mouth. He hated the perpetual rain that infested Amegakure and the surrounding district. It infuriated him to no end, but to find the person he was looking for he absolutely had to visit the country. Rumours suggested that the man had taken up residence in the village a few years ago and so Sasuke's first stop on his collection trip was to find him.

He finally came to a stop outside of the village entrance and pulled down his hood, the pouring rain slicking back his long hair, taking it out of his face. Through the storm, he walked through along the thing bridge, waving at one of the guards who slightly bowed. His status as a shinobi hero had a lot of benefits, not to mention the fact that village borders were far easier to get through then they had been in the past. As he walked through the streets, he held up a picture of the man, hoping that someone at least has seen the strange man. Eventually, after showing it to 20 different civilians, the Uchiha found a woman who knew the face and sent him in the direction of the man's residence. Swiftly, he wound his way through the buildings and streets, twisting in and out of the intricate streets and neon lights. He'd never visited the village before, so he found himself backtracking on several occasions, quickly moving around from place to place and getting directions from the shop owners and pedestrians.

Finally, after hours of misguided wandering and freezing to the bone, he found himself in front of a rusting green door. Its window was boarded up, the original glass behind it being completely, and utterly shattered. He thudded three times heavily on the door, before stopping and waiting for an answer. After a few minutes, the door creaked open and Sasuke found himself face to face with someone he hadn't seen in over a decade.

Suigetsu stared at him for a few seconds, before saying two words.

"Fuck off." The door slammed in his face, dislodging a tonne of water built up on the roof, splashing it down on his head. Sasuke gritted his teeth viciously once more before knocking three more times.

"Let me in Suigetsu!" he shouted, his voiced raised so that it could be heard over the pounding rain.

"What part of 'fuck off' do you not understand?" the other man yelled back, the anger evident in his tone.

"The part where you ignore the guy who saved you from being locked in a box forever in some forgotten laboratory!" Sasuke screamed back, his voice filled with frustration.

"Well, I vaguely remember you already calling in that particular debt to get me to join you on your vengeance quest, which ended up with me nearly become stomp fodder for the jūbi! Not to mention that you revived the one guy who caused me so much shit in the first place!" The pace of Suigetsu's ranting grew greater, and Sasuke realised that the man was quite obviously drunk. "You kept me around a guy who cycled between being a deranged psychopath and a pacifist that was more at home with birds, and don't even get me started on Karin!"

"Weren't you two seeing each other for a while?"

"Yes, that is precisely the probably! We hate-fucked each other's brains out and ending up trying to kill each other multiple times! I didn't go through that goddamn war to get murdered by some redheaded broad! And worse off, I didn't even end up getting any of the Seven Swords and I got the one I did have, stolen!" Bitterness ran completely through his tone.

"Suigetsu, you have until I count to three before I knock down your goddamned door." His frustration had reached a head, he wasn't about to let some washed up drunk tell him what's what.

"What're you gonna do, Chidori me?" Those words were the straw that broke the horse's back and Sasuke bit back a retort, instead taking a deep breath and realigning his chakra flow towards his boot.

"1," he started, his teeth gritted tightly, "2… Oh fuck you." He lashed out and smashed the door in, the iron door flying off its frame and spinning down the hall. Sasuke strode into the rundown apartment, glancing around at the rotting wood and mould patches. In one corner, it looked like there was a little group of fungi growing. Eyebrow raised, Sasuke turned to face the man who was slumped on the ground, sake bottle in hand. Grunting, Sasuke kicked out at it, knocking it flying into the far war, shattering. Suigetsu didn't even look shocked, his stubble ridden face barely moving.

"You owe me a new bottle of sake, Sasake," he mumbled before giggling to himself, "Heh, Sasake." The Uchiha sneered at the man's hiccupping tone.

"Get your drunken ass off this ground, Suigetsu. You are more than this, you idiot." The sky-blue haired man slowly raised his head up to make eye-contact with the Uchiha. He shook his head before lowering his head once more, the effort obviously too much for the extremely intoxicated man. Running his hand through his hair, Sasuke reached down and grabbed the man by his scruff and dragged him down the hall, before throwing him out into the mud. "What happened to that fired up man who wanted to fight and become the strongest swordsman in the land?" The once great swordsman looked stung at the remark, but simply slumped backwards into the sodden ground, covered in mud. He blinked a few times before smiling bitterly.

"You know Sasuke," he began, his voice barely audible over the rain and wind, "The time I spent with you and Taka was some of the best times I've ever had in my life." The water washed the dirt and filth from his face and Sasuke watched as years of age washed with them. Just how long had it been since he exposed himself to actual water? From what he knew, Suigetsu was effectively immortal as long as he consistently allowed himself to be kept as a liquid, not a gas, and he had to ingest water or he'd age normally. Getting enough water would let him revert back his age, thus keeping him youthful. Sasuke internally grunted; he wouldn't mind having some of that youth back. Those creaks in his joints had started small but were slowly becoming more and more noticeable.

"I know why you're here." Sasuke's head tilted to the side, listening to the man properly once more, his thoughts of his loss of youth adding away. "You're here because you need me to help stop Naruto's kid from doing the same shit you did. It's admirable." Sasuke had well expected the news of the death of Naruto to reach this country, but he hadn't realised that Suigetsu, even in his drunken fugue state, could put the pieces together. "So you think you can come after, what, just under 20 years and tell this drunken sack of piss that he's to be expected to run off around the world with you again?"

The cutting tone put Sasuke on the back foot. "I hate to tell you Sasuke, just because you conquered your personal demons by being kicked around the Valley of the End by a demi-god and losing your left arm, not all of us did! And guess what? Some of us were left with nowhere to go, and you just dumped us." Sasuke froze. He'd been so distracted with his own personal quest for redemption, and the confusing mess that was his feelings towards Sakura, that he couldn't bring himself to deal with anyone around him.

He hadn't even thought about what would happen to Suigetsu, Karin and Jūgo, especially with Orochimaru being back in the realm of the living. Even when he'd briefly seen Karin, he hadn't even talked to her, opting to completely give her the cold shoulder. He knew that they'd tagged along with Orochimaru for a while and that he'd seen them with Sakura a couple of times but after that he'd never bothered to keep in touch.

"So, Sasuke-kun~," Suigetsu mumbled sarcastically, the honorific drawling, "Are you really sure that you want to drag me and the old guard back out into the field? Because right now, I can't even get off this ground, let alone trip through the country like when we were younger. Jūgo is probably locked in a jail 10 kilometres beneath the surface to avoid his monster side going nuts. Karin is hiding out somewhere in Kirigakure and chances are that she's already moved on. Do you really have the guts to put this team back together?" Sasuke tightened his jaw, and clenched his fist extremely tightly. He hadn't copped a lecture this intense from anyone but Sakura in a long time.

"Karin hates your guts for rejecting her, not romantically but as a friend. Jūgo feels like you betrayed him by dumping him once you no longer needed him and you had your good ole' buddies back in Team 7 back. And you know what? I hate you too, because for a moment, I even thought that you might be my friend too, but that was a bit too much to expect, right?"

The Uchiha man opened his mouth and held out a hand, before letting it drop down to his side. This temporary intrusion did nothing to slow down the watery man, "You ditched us all and settled down with your cute little bunch of brats and wife and you didn't even think about it. Showed us really how much you cared for us." He sighed, finally lifting himself upright off the muddy ground, pulling himself up against a wall. "I mean, it's not like we were ever the heroes of the story and we never did anything overly heroic, but it doesn't mean we were emotionless machines." Suigetsu turned, his purple eyes shimmering in the grey light. "That's why we followed you away from the darkness of Orochimaru. We all were broken toys that just wanted to be seen as humans, but you didn't even give us that."

The two men stared at each other for a long time, Sasuke struggling to find words to retort the man's long speech. Suddenly, Suigetsu's fist slammed into his jaw, spinning his head to the side. Growling in anger, Sasuke smashed back hard with a right hook, not even bothering to deal with activating his Sharingan. Back and forth the two men fought, Suigetsu's fists becoming bloodied from hitting Sasuke again and again. The Uchiha managed to draw blood with a lucky few strikes managing to get in quick enough to avoid Suigetsu shifting his form to water. Grabbing him around the throat, Sasuke hurled the man across the alley, only for him to shift into water, bouncing straight off the wall and coming back with an aggressive uppercut. The men panted as Sasuke lent against the wall, panting.

He launched himself once more, kicking and throwing punch after punch, head-butts chained with powerful shoves. The two had become so splattered with blood that they would barely tell whose blood was whose. Grimacing, he grabbed the man one last time and smashed him face-first into the pavement, eliciting a huge groan. Rolling off the man, he lay on his back, panting for breath, exhausted from the bloody fight. The two lay alongside each other panting heavily. It had been a while since Sasuke had gone for an all-out taijutsu fight and he found himself smiling a little. "You haven't let your skills slip much for a drunkard."

"You've gotten sloppy old man, did your kids let you get this fat?"

They smirked and continued to lie next to each other, the rain pouring as it always did, the two barely being able move from the pain and injuries. Sasuke was pretty sure at least two of his ribs were fractured, and his jaw definitely didn't click like that on a normal basis. He sighed; Sakura would not let him hear the end of that any time soon. Suigetsu eventually rolled over and looked directly at Sasuke. "I missed you, man." Sasuke's closed his eyes softly; it wasn't like the man to be too sentimental.

"I'm the same."

"You're an asshole when you don't get your way, Uchiha."

"You're a living jar of piss."

Kiba sat in the inn, slowly drinking his sake, exhausted from the day's work. He'd been running the family puppy farm, and one of the females had given birth to a huge litter that he'd needed to take care of. That was exhausting enough. Then he'd been dragged into the Hokage's office along with the former members of his class, where they'd proceeded to get completely informed on the small scuffle that had taken place at the village gate. He could have almost sworn Sai was about to smash some of the office up when he was forced to listen to the details of his son being beaten up by strange people, who were apparently at a strong enough level to take out a hokage. Kiba could see where the man's anger was coming from; if his daughter was forced to take on three extremely powerful soldiers of unknown abilities, he would be completely furious. The fact that Sai was managing to hold it together was a sign that he was still well trained in the control of his emotions. Konohamaru had seemed nervous, evidently not quite settled into his role as hokage just yet, but he'd ordered them to up their guard duty and keep an eye on their trainees, especially new genin.

The meeting over, the group had gone their separate ways, with Kiba making a raw beeline straight for the local inn. After a while, Shino had joined him and the two had sat in silence, drinking steadily, progressively getting drunker as the night went on. Before long, Shino had staggered out, heading home to "feed the bees". Last Kiba checked, Shino didn't raise bees, so the fact that he may have been making an innuendo amused him immensely. As he drank, he thought about how broken their former group had been become, with 3 members being dead and the rest barely hanging out anymore. Growing up had been hard on the group, more often than not they'd been forced to go their separate ways, and apart from their once a month meeting, they didn't really get much time together. He leaned back on his stool and sighed a bit, before ordering another bottle of sake.

Suddenly, the back door to the bar exploded open and standing there, in all of her 165 centimetres of fury was his daughter, Aiko. "Dad, get your stupid ass out of the bar and home!" He looked over at her and sighed, before turning back to his drink. However, as he went to raise the cup to his lips, he found himself grabbed around the collar and dragged from his chair, crashing onto the floor hard. _Bloody hell, when did Aiko get this strong? _Grunting, he stood up and slung his arm around his daughter, throwing her over his shoulder. Turning to the innkeeper, he gestured to put the cost on his tab before she dragged him out the door.

"Dad, what the hell?" Being screamed at by Aiko wasn't exactly a rare occurrence, with her usually accosting him for a variety of things, from cleaning the dishes, to forgetting to buy his partner a present for their anniversary. This time it was evident that there was something else on his daughter's mind, her voice was tense with angst. "The village is writhing with rumours and they need the jōnin to be there keeping them safe and what are you doing? Drinking at a bar?" There were a few tears in her eyes, which she wiped away before bitterly shouting, "You always talk about how you were trying to rival Naruto, but I'm pretty sure that at the first sign of struggle he wouldn't have been in a bar!"

Kiba was taken aback. Sure, he'd always talked about his wanting for a rivalry with Naruto, but he'd never realised that he'd made such an impact on his daughter with it. Right now she was looking at him with such a look of betrayal that it hurt his heart, so he turned away and took a breath. "I know Aiko. It's not like I want to run away, it's just that I have more things to worry about now then myself and Akamaru." He turned around and looked at her. "It isn't like when I was a kid, running around shamelessly chasing after whatever nemesis presented itself. These new enemies scare me." Grimacing, he leant against the wall. "It's something we know nothing about, and the fact that they effortlessly killed a chūnin, and then beat a leading jōnin candidate into the hospital? That's even scarier," he muttered.

For a while, the pair stood silently staring at each other, not meeting each other's eyes, not knowing what to say. After a while, Kiba sighed and stood up, walking over to Aiko. He smiled, before embracing her in his arms. She shuddered for a bit, before hugging him back, tightly wrapping her arms around him. They gently stood there for a while before Kiba broke the embrace. "I think it's time we amped up your training, Aiko." The girl's face lit up in the moonlight and the two walked side by side back to their house, Kiba quietly joking about how when he was a kid, he and Akamaru used to play pranks on people all the time. While he joked about his past he was already starting to plan her training schedule.

If his feelings were right on the matter and it wasn't often that that they weren't, then in the next few months, things around the village were going to get extremely heated. He hadn't felt this degree of forewarning since before the Kage summit, and he could only dread what it meant for his family, his village and his friends. Stopping in his path, he looked up at the night sky. _What would Naruto do here? _He sighed before continuing down the path. If war came to them again, would the peace filled nation be in any sort of state to fight back against them? If they really had such skilled fighters on their side, ones that could so easily dispose of chūnin level fighters, how many would have to die to force them back? The Inuzuka closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had much preferred the days where he could just run into a battle with no idea of what was happening, and irrationally fight to the bloody end. These days he found himself more sceptical, more logical and most of all, cautious.

Finally, they reached their home, and Aoki was besieged by two flashes of white. Both Yuki and Akamaru pounced on her and started licking her face, whilst she giggled, writhing around under their combined weight. Kiba watched on from the side and smirked at his daughter's struggle and suddenly it hit him. By not fighting back, he was putting his family at a disadvantage.

With a grin, he jumped on top of the pile, eliciting an "oomph" from Aoki, who by this point was giggling so hard that she was struggling to breathe. Sneakily, he reached in and ruffled her hair, starting to genuinely laugh himself. It had been a while since he'd laughed so easily and with a jolt, he realised that maybe he didn't always need to be super serious as a dad.

With that revelation, Kiba found himself laughing and his sudden opening allowed the tide to be turned upon him, with Yuki pouncing on his stomach and Akamaru tackling him around the top of his head. Giggling wildly, Aoki launched herself across the gap on top of him, softly punching him in his stomach while he chuckled, trying to wriggle out from under the onslaught, his face being covered with thick licks from the two ninken, covered completely in saliva. There were probably worse places to be, and he had a broad smile on his face when Tamaki came out onto the porch, a soft smile on her face as well. She watched the group wrestling before moving in and grabbing the two human participants by the scruff of their clothes and hauled them out of the dog-pile. "You two stop acting like your partners and clean up, it's time for dinner." Smirking, she twirled, the cat on her shoulder looking smug as she re-entered the house, sliding the door shut behind her. Kiba smiled, before cuffing Aoki around the back of the head.

"Race you to get cleaned up." He bolted inside, his daughter fast on his heel, the two ninken bounding along, barking loudly. Maybe things would only get better from now on.


	7. Prowess

Konoha had been a mess for a week after the breach of security. ANBU patrols had amped up immensely. Any visitors to the village were being checked thoroughly before being allowed in. Residents everywhere where complaining about the increased security, but after seeing the ruthless prowess of the strangers, everyone was on tenterhooks. People would suspiciously glare at each other in the street and the unease was completely palpable.

Inojin didn't like it one bit.

Ever since he'd been a child, his parents had been constantly teaching him to always believe in the best of other people. They'd told him how distrustful people had been of the Hokage and in his mother's words "Look how that turned out for them!" He smiled warmly at the memory of his mother's happy smile and laughter. She'd been extremely busy at the hospital of late; dealing with injuries from various teams of shinobi coming home from missions after the total recall order was put out to all active agents, not to mention working overtime at the intel division.

Even Mitsuki had been recalled from his operation which had been taking place up on the border. He'd come back in the worst state Inojin had ever seen any of his classmates in. He was covered from head to toe in mud, his shoulder was dislocated, and he had a brutal gash just below his right eye, marring his usually serene face. The calm boy hadn't had anything to say to anyone, no matter how much they bugged him. Even Shikadai couldn't get him to talk, which was completely unusual as the two had been thick as thieves since their early teens. Inojin shook off his heavy thoughts and focussed back in on the meeting he was currently a part of. It was a briefing for jōnin candidates. Standing next to him was Shikadai and Chōchō, who both looked mildly focussed on the droning tone of the jōnin who was lecturing them about the expectations for them if they got promoted. Shikadai was playing with an old wooden puzzle-box that he'd found on a mission that they'd gone on as genin. He must have completed it a thousand times, but he still continued to try and finish it faster and faster.

"So, due to circumstances, we've been shadowing the lot of you for the last few months. Some of you put in little effort," growled the captain, with a pointed glare in the direction of Shikadai, "Whilst some put in extreme amounts." As he finished his sentence, he smiled at Inojin before continuing on. "However, several of you were clearly capable of jōnin rank, despite some of your poor attitudes" This time it was a pointed glare at Shikadai, which actually drew a snicker from Chōchō. The man looked at her in disgust before pulling out a printed piece of paper.

"So, if you hear your name being called please come to the front of the room." There was a huge emptiness in the room as everyone held their breath, waiting desperately to hear whether they'd made it. Slowly a few shinobi that Inojin had worked with were called out before:

"Chōchō Akimichi."

"Shikadai Nara."

As the list grew longer and longer, Inojin broke out in a cold sweat, slowly fearing more and more as the man began to get closer to the end of his list. It felt like each syllable he read out was being drawn out in an attempt to freak out the remaining chūnin potentials. He started to spin his brush around his thumb, switching it back and forth between his right and left hands as he got increasingly nervous. After a shinobi by the name of Hideki Yamada got his name called out, His spinning was frantic and several shinobi whose family names had been skipped over had already left leaving only him in the centre of the room. His heart was pounding and it felt like his stomach was in his throat as the man looked at his list once more.

"Congratulations Inojin Yamanaka. You are the last of the jōnin promotions."

Everything stopped for a brief moment and Inojin felt his face stretch into a huge grin. Forcing himself to keep his emotions bottled up, he nodded and made his way to the side of his teammates. Shikadai smirked in his direction; an expression that screamed "We are so gonna rip on you for the way you freaked out about not getting the position earlier."

Chōchō had an uncharacteristically small smile on her face and nodded as he joined them. The captain lectured them on what would be expected of them now that they were jōnin, how they'd be responsible for larger units and more difficult missions. Towards the older jōnin, he mentioned how from now on several of them would be selected to guide young genin towards becoming strong and wise shinobi.

Inojin could barely hear him over the buzz of excitement in his head. Even the dull ache of the slash across his cheek was distant as he thought of all the injuries he'd gained through training, all the mistakes he'd made and all the friends he'd made to get to this point. As the crowd started to leave the room, he linked arms with Chōchō who'd already grabbed Shikadai and forced him into the link. The three walked out into the hall where their parents were waiting. Shikadai walked over to his mother who gave him a soft smile and pulled him into her arms tightly. Chōchō started to whinge to Karui about how long the proceeding had been before a stern look from the older woman shut her up and caused her to say whispered thanks for their support. Chouji had a huge smile on his face and gave her a rough pat on the back, mumbling about her being the most successful Akimichi in a while.

Inojin drifted over to Sai and Ino who both were smiling. They were holding hands and looked years younger, as if their son's promotion had taken a weight off their collective back. The boy opened his mouth to say thank you but choked on his emotions, his voices cracking. Sai reached out and dragged him into a group hug between the three of them. In the background he could hear some muffled sobbing, presumably from Shikadai. He heard the name "Shikamaru" and knew that he was upset that his father hadn't been able to see his promotion. Inojin snuffled into his dad's jacket and he heard that reassuring voice that had been there for every twist and turn of his life. He could hear his mother's soft voice chuckling and mumbling about how much he'd grown up.

Wiping his snotty nose and eyes, he looked first at Ino, then Sai. "I'm gonna make you guys proud to be my parents."

"Inojin, we were proud of you from the moment you were born," whispered Ino, tears sparkling in her eyes.

"She's right Inojin. You have always been our greatest accomplishment and you're only just getting started," said Sai, his pale face drawn into one of his odd smiles. "You've got a long life ahead of you and we won't even stop being proud of you."

Inojin felt a blush wiping through his face and he nuzzled back in among the warm embrace of his parents. Maybe he could be a kid for a little longer. For so long, he'd had a one track mind about his training and promotion, so he'd forgotten much about how much he loved his family.

Sure they had their fights, but for the most part, they all loved each dearly. From what he'd seen from the odd relationship of the Uchiha household and the Uzumaki and Nara after the loss of their fathers, Inojin found himself determined to hold his family closer than ever before. If he was going to go down, it would be defending his family and their honour. As he gently pulled back from his parents, he looked down at his worn hands. There was a heavy line of bruising on his knuckles from some intensive hand to hand practice he'd been working on.

When he'd looked in the library for tales of historic shinobi and their training, he'd found that an early practitioner of taijutsu had spent hours a day pounding upon a log with thick rope tied on it. The process was said to have turned his knuckles into a brutal wall, without the need for any chakra output. That being said, Inojin's progress with the training was not faring so well. He could barely keep up the punching on the wood for more than an hour, and that was without the rope. He planned to keep at it however; Amegakure hadn't been built in a day after all.

Inojin tensed as he felt hands grab his arms tightly and he looked to his left to see Chōchō grasping his arm tightly with a smile on her face. A quick glance to the other side showed the Shikadai was also grasping his other arm, albeit it more reluctantly. Chōchō grinned in satisfaction before dragging the chain of people down the hallway, leaving the parents alone in the corridor. Inojin let himself go along with the Akimichi but not before he heard the faint words spoken by Temari.

"They've grown so fast."

"Circumstances forced it." The final tired word from his father sunk into Inojin and his eyes widened as he was dragged out of listening distance. Inojin found his eyebrows knotting at that last phrase from his father. As far as he'd known, the last few decades had been fairly peaceful, with none of the previous threats of war. How long had this threat from the outside nations been a threat? What was going on that they didn't know? The teen's thought process was shattered when Chōchō came to a jarring halt and he crashed into her. His screw up was hardly noticed by the girl, who was rustling through a bag he hadn't noticed on her back.

With a triumphant 'aha', she ripped out three small pieces of metal and fabric. If he didn't know better, he could've sworn they were… Yep. The girl was holding three Konoha headbands, but from the look of it, they were different from the standard issue ones. It looked like there were two heinous scratches on the otherwise flawless metal surface. Inojin reached out and took it from her, holding it in front of his face. He was right; there were two deep gouges neatly on either side of the Konoha emblem. They were neatly done, and it appeared as though all three of the headbands were emblazoned as such.

"We don't know where our friends are," spoke Chōchō softly, her tone differing from her usually upbeat and lively speaking voice. "They might never come back," she mumbled, her voice downcast, "But we are going to keep them by our side every step of the way." Her eyes are lit with a certain fire that goes beyond even her normal zest, filling her with a seeming pride that Inojin can never recall seeing on her face before. "We will never lose if we stay strong to ourselves and our beliefs." Inojin found himself staring quietly at Chōchō, awe inspired by the strength behind her words.

Sure, she wasn't one for huge lengthy speeches, but her word had depth and meaning. Maybe her interest in former Hokage's and their ability to inspire awe had started to rub off in her tone. "We are going to be the best shinobi our village has ever seen, Inojin, Shikadai. We are the new InoShikaCho and we are going to surpass our parents, and their parents," she finished with a flourish and grinned widely. Shikadai clapped sarcastically for a few moments, which earned him a hard cuff around the head. He grunted from the strike but shut up, not wanting to risk the ire of the Akimichi anymore.

Inojin nodded, slowly wrapping his headband through his blonde hair, enjoying the feeling of letting his long fringe dangle over it. Shikadai tightened his around his left arm and nods once he gets the placement just right. Chōchō was the last to don hers, tying hers around her neck. The trio nodded gently, before slapping their hands together, a movement they've done ever since childhood. It was a bit lame and more than a little embarrassing, but that never stopped them.

"So now, we can go after our friends!" started Chōchō before Inojin cut over her completely.

"No."

The air is still as the other two stare at him in disbelief. The Akimichi looked completely shocked and even a little dismayed at his dismissive tone and Inojin made a mental note to apologise for it later.

"Right now, we need to be helping the village," he continued with his eyes shut softly, "We are jōnin now, we can't just go running off into the forest after those two. I know it sucks that they're gone, but say we caught up to them, would they even turn back?" Shikadai went to say something but acquiesces and pinched the bridge of his nose to relieve his tension. "We know that Boruto isn't going to stop till he's found the answers he wants or the revenge he's seeking." He cast his gaze around the room, trying to keep his voice even. "Besides, they're an Uchiha and an Uzumaki, is there really much that's going to be able to take both of them down a notch out there?" The unspoken response gave him the answer he wanted.

"What about the outsiders?"

Inojin had worried that Shikadai would be the one to ask this. His own fear about the two coming into contact with outsiders was something he was trying to supress and given that Boruto had all the intentions of getting revenge against the man who was responsible for the death of his father, there was absolutely no way that they'd not see one of them. Sighing gently, Inojin nodded.

"That is a genuine concern, yes. But having Sarada at Boruto's side will keep him from making any idiotic decisions that he'd do on his own." He leant back against the wall, before leaning forwards, and placing a single index on either side of his eyes. "But they left so it's up to them to handle it. We need to focus on helping the village. Especially given that the new Hokage position has stirred up quite a bit of drama, not to mention that the attack from those murderers has left the civilian populace unsettled." He rolled his shoulders and stretched out a bit. "Right now, we need to help however we can." Shikadai quietly nodded in affirmation while Chōchō had a look of disgust upon her face. She'd always been one to care about doing things closer to the heart before doing things for the village and this matter seemed to be one she was disagreeing on heavily.

"I think this is stupid," she began, "But for the purpose of not starting dumb fights and the fact that I'd lose in a vote, I'll back off." She shrugged before brightening back up, "but hey, before everything gets too dark, let's goes get some ramen." Inojin nodded and held out his arm to loop with hers. After a moment, she smiled and joined arms with him, grabbing the Nara boy and dragging him with them. He tuned out their brief argument and was floating off in his imagination before she forcefully grounded him. The three set out into the rainy night, the neon lights of the street illuminating their faces.

Sai watched the teens walk slowly out into the rainy night from the window. He sighed and turned around, facing the rest of the parents. "It hurts to see Inojin's face like that," he muttered, almost to himself. Ino nodded quietly, grasping his hand and threading her fingers through his tightly. Temari sighed gently, running a hand through her hair before focussing on Sai, a grim look covering her face.

"Unfortunately, a little scratch doesn't seem like it's the biggest worry we've got right now. Assuming that the Intel we've collected thanks to the efforts of Sasuke and Mitsuki is actually true, it looks like we might have a full scale invasion on our hands." Placidly, Sai nodded his head, knowing full well the level of threat that was currently posed towards the threat.

At the mention of the Uchiha's name, Sakura came inside, shutting the door behind her and nodding a greeting to the assembled shinobi. "So, the kids got their promotions, huh? Congratulations." Her voice was a little hoarse and tired. Sai felt terrible for his former teammate, between the casualties being dragged into the village daily from raids and the loss of her daughter, not to mention her best friend, she seemed to barely be holding up. He could see the hollowness in her smile, the dull shine in her eyes and the evident bags under her eyes. She might be smiling, but it was that same fake smile he saw so many years ago. Ever since Sasuke took off to reunite with members of Taka, she'd looked even more worn out and Sai realised just how much of a pillar Sasuke was to Sakura._ The two complement each other on many levels_, he mused. Gently, he placed his other hand on his wife's, thankful for her presence.

"Where's Hinata? Or for that matter, where's Lee and Tenten. They should at least be privy to this meeting," murmurs Karui, her bright eyes tracing around the room, burning holes in all they come to contact with. After a few moments of silence, Sakura spoke up, her emerald eyes dull and barely open through tired lids.

"Haven't you heard that she's back at the Hyūga compound?" _I guess that for an outsider who cares little for clan politics, the movements of the Hyūga are no big deal, _Sai thought, content to keep his mouth shut. "With Himawari off in god knows where looking for who knows what, she wisely thought it would be best to move Hinata back into the compound where Hanabi can at least keep a watching eye on her." Sakura finished her sentence and slid down the wall onto the ground. "As for Lee, he's out preaching youth to that kid again, and Tenten can barely afford to leave her shop due to the sudden desire that everyone in the village has to arm themselves." An uneasy silence fell upon the room and everyone contemplated in silence for a few moments before Ino spoke up.

"How did things get so bad so quickly? For years, it's been so quiet, you'd have thought that Orochimaru himself had gone into retirement and opened a dango store. But now, it's like there's a build-up of bodies at the hospital, more people with permanent scars on their face, more people needing more drastic treatment, and what can we do? We're all older now; we're not exactly the powerhouses we were in our youth. And as for everything we feed to the public, we know precisely jack-shit about these invaders" When she finished her onslaught, she leaned back and took a deep breath. "I mean, Naruto did everything he could to cement relations in the Elemental Nations, yet here we are, faced with starting his efforts completely from scratch. Worse even, we don't even know if there _is_ any hope of negotiation with these people. All we've seen is unbridled hostility and a propensity for resisting any form of negotiation. I'm just worried." Sai nodded his head gently; his wife had basically summed up his thoughts on the matter.

He decided to chip his own thoughts in on the matter. "Ino's right." She looked at him in appreciation before he continued on with his thought, "Ever since Madara, and to a lesser extent Toneri, we've been twiddling our collective thumbs and denying the fact that the lands outside our borders really exist. It was like a really, really big cow in the room." This draws an odd look from a few of the people in the room but if Sai let odd looks stop him, he'd probably never get anything done. "What I'm saying is that we overlooked it and focussed on our own borders so much that we've now got a massive amount of complacency among the armed forces and civilian populace. So that's why we're seeing this huge backlash against the Hokage, even though he can't possibly be blamed for it." Sai cast his gaze around the room.

"We need to address this now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Today. That's the only way we're going to make a noticeable difference when the bad times come." Silence. Deafening, sweet silence. When he'd been younger, Sai had always appreciated silence. It was like an empty form of art, devoid of any of the typical characteristics of art, but filled with so many contours that one couldn't help be caught up in it. Especially if that one was Sai.

He opened his mouth to speak once more, but he barely got his mouth open when all the glass in the room exploded inwards and a green flash came sliding in through it, splatters of red hitting the floor. Lee groaned slightly, and started to try to prop himself up, but was struggling with the effort. Suddenly another body flew into the room. The white robes were flying about wildly in the sudden wind and Sai could hear the owner screaming at the top of her lungs as she swung the enormous fan. A crackle of chakra made the occupants of the room's hair stand on end as it exploded outwards, destroying what was left of the window and its wall. Grimly, Tenten turned around and looked at the assembled shinobi. Blood was dripping down the side of her face but Sai decided not to point that out.

"What the hell are you all gawking for?" she snarled ferociously, "Go and fix this." The snarled command snapped the assembled into action, and everyone switched into gear within moments. Sai grabbed at one of his pre-prepared scrolls and threw them out the window as he jumped out into the pouring rain. All around him, he could hear screams and crackles of lightning. It was like the village was under attack by the elements themselves. There were odd flashes coming from everywhere and it took him a few moments to realise that they were most likely from weapons similar to those that had been taken from the earlier attack.

As he landed on the ground, two enormous lions at his side, a man with one of the weapons came charging at him, swinging the sharpened blade on the end, turning one of the ink monsters back into ink. Sai grimace and drew his tanto, narrowly deflecting the blade as it came far too close to his jugular. While he blocked the blade with one hand, he swiftly drew a kunai from his pouch and stabbed it into the man's undefended stomach.

The man fell to the ground coughing violently and Sai ruthlessly finished him with a stab to the back of the neck. Ino landed on the ground next to him, her own tanto held up strongly. Another two assailants flew at them and Sai flinched as the weapon cracked violently, a large blast of energy slicing through the air next to his face. With some well-practiced movements, both he and Ino managed to dodge the blasts, with one of them hitting the other assailants, knocking him into a wall, quite obviously dead. Sai looked at him in horror.

_How strong are those things? _A shout from Ino brought him back into the present, narrowly dodging another projectile. With a grunt, he hurled a shuriken at the man, knocking him against the wall, the sharpened star sliced into the man's throat. Grimacing from frustration, Sai glanced over at Ino who had her eyes closed, frantically scanning the village for Inojin's mental signal. A few moments of deadly silence passed before relief spread over her face. "He's by the gate with Shikadai and Chōchō, but they're pinned down. We need to get to them." The pale skinned man nodded, before running up the wall, his wife quickly following him.

As they ran across the roof, he tried to pick out what was going on around them. There seemed to be a great deal of skirmishes, so it wasn't like a full army was besieging the village. It was enough that people were being scattered and on the backfoot. There were too many bodies. Far too many people bleeding. Sai felt that old unemotional side taking over and for once he was thankful. He could only hope that his son was holding up on his end. A stab came at him from the left and he punched hard into the exposed elbow joint, ignoring the sickening crack.

The pair finally made it to the buildings before the gate and the scene that greeted them was grim. There were flashes from the weapons everywhere, bodies lying face down, civilians screaming, shinobi locked in death grips with enemies. It reminded him of the war, except that those were Zetsu with no feelings.

These enemies were human as far as they could tell.

Ino grabbed his arm and they looked across at the battlefield where three fighters were brutally working their way through enemy after enemy. Sai gritted his teeth when he saw his son ruthlessly plunging his sword into the chest of an enemy fighter before turning around and forcing another to plunge a sword through his thigh, barely staggering as his mind shifted. Besides him, Chōchō was swatting viciously back and forth with the Akimichi's renowned body size jutsu, whilst still wielding a sword ruthlessly. Shikadai was covered in blood and grime and is standing back behind the two, lashing out with shadows whenever one of his teammates made a misstep that could be fatal. Sai could have stood and watched it for a while long had he not been attacked by a thin haired man, a harsh battle cry being turned into one of pain when Sai managed to grab his arm and threw him across the rooftop, the main sliding off the edge.

These enemies were well trained with their weapons, but lacked any sort of hand to hand skills, nor armour. Remove the weapon from the equation and they went down like flies. As Sai turned to Ino, she had her jaw open in awe as a loud scream came from the sky. Sakura was falling quite rapidly downwards. How she'd gotten there, Sai had no idea, but within seconds she slammed into a contingent of troops just outside the village and an explosion of earth showed that she'd probably removed what resistance they could put up. There were less of those harsh cracking noises now, which gave Sai confidence that the village was starting to turn the tide of battle.

The storm had started to recede as well and the man looked into the sky, the last of the rain washing off some of the blood off his face. He felt a hand wrap around his and Ino gently brought his attention back to their son. Inojin was kneeling on the ground, face looking downwards, clearly retching violently. Sai sighed gently. It was to be expected that Inojin wouldn't be up to something so vicious; the kid had never been exposed to such extreme violence. The parent's jumped down to his side and lifted him from the bloodied mud. He was covered with scratches and his clothes were cut to shreds, but unlike the scar on his cheek, it didn't look like any of them would be lasting. Inojin was in a state; his breath was coming raggedly like a tiger that had fought off a horde. Sai slung him over his shoulder and carried him to a nearby bench, propping him neatly on it whilst Ino start to check him over thoroughly.

Inojin started with a jerk and looked up at the concerned faces of his parents. For a few moments, he just sat there with a look of shellshock on his face before tears started to run down his face, streaking through the muddy grime and splatters of gore he'd come to be covered in. The more Sai thought about it, the more he realised that Inojin was fighting purely on sheer adrenaline. When the fighting had stopped, he'd crashed and gone straight into shock, leading to the reaction he was seeing now. He sighed, before leaning off and wiping of his son's cheek.

"It's okay Inojin, everything is going to be just fine."

The wide green eyes of his son widened, but no response was forthcoming.

_Hima's Journal – Day 20!_

_So today, Kurama and I continued our travels through the Land of Wind in search of the Ichibi, also known as Shukaku! He's apparently a big raccoon who doesn't like Kurama much and I don't think Kurama likes him very much either, hehe. _

_He's been complaining non-stop about the heat and the sand and how he's never going to be able to sleep without finding sand in his pelt every again. For a former demon fox, Kurama is a pretty big baby! The same big baby has been telling me all sorts of stories about papa though! Like how Dad used to talk real big but was actually pretty weak! That's pretty cool to know that he wasn't always super tough and cool. Maybe one day I'll be super tough and cool too?_

Himawari paused as she scribbled in her notebook. The weather was pretty nice today; maybe she could note that too? Nah, that was a bit boring. She decided to end the journal entry there and talk to Kurama a bit more. Closing the book and stuffing it inside her pack, she crawled along the back of the giant focus as he bounded across the landscape. Gently, she clambered up the fur of the fox, until she was perched on top of his head, between his ears. She loved the feeling of the wind through her short hair, and the pounding of Kurama's paws on the soft desert sand. Carefully, she made her way up to the top of his head, grabbing onto a tuft of fur for stability. Kurama appeared to her in her mind, his arm's crossed.

_So, what is it little one? Do you need to stop for a break?_

She shook her head, before pulling up an imaginary seat in her head. After a little while of practice, Himawari had found that she had a pretty good control over the setting in which Kurama and she could communicate. So as time had passed, she gradually made the area more comfortable for their conversations. Kurama had complained that she'd turned an imposing meeting place into her bedroom, but for the most part she ignored him. "I'm just bored. Keeping a journal is hard when most of what we do is running through the land at high speed." Kurama shrugged nonchalantly, lying down on the ground and curling up lithely.

_There's a village to the north, we can take a detour there and have a break._

Himawari nodded before pointing an accusing finger at him. "We can't go in the village with you full sized though! Last time we tried, the village leader nearly had a heart attack and sent all 3 shinobi he had to attack us." Kurama growled with amusement at the memory. "That means you need to go down to baby fox size!" Kurama roared at her, gnashing his fang together in frustration.

Himawari knew just how much the fox hated having to reduce his size, let alone to baby fox size. When she'd been younger, he'd never stop complaining to Naruto about it when she'd play with him. _I can't believe you're going to make me demean myself like that. _Himawari smirked and shrugged.

"I don't care, shrink on down and let's get something to eat."

Kurama grumbled incessantly in the background as Himawari slid down his neck and ruffled through her backpack, looking for her money. Finally she found the small supply of coin that she'd saved up from doing missions. The small purple frog that she kept it in was a gift from her father and she treasured it dearly, hooking it into her belt pocket before she collected a few other miscellaneous items. She was a pretty hardy twelves year old, and training in a lot of the Hyūga's ways had meant that she could keep her mind focused on the task at hand. However that often meant that she forgot how long it had been since she took care of herself. Himawari was a victim of air headedness and her growling stomach reminded it that it had been quite some time since she'd indulged herself in some food. Grumbling under her breath, she grabbed a hair tie from her bag and suddenly felt shock run through her as her base for standing on vanished.

With a choked off scream she plummeted down into the soft sand below her. The drop was significant enough that she free fell for a few moments before slamming into the sand roughly. She groaned in pain as she rolled over, desperately trying to ignore the pain from her winded lungs. As she writhed around trying to catch her breath, a tiny fox made its way over to her side with a deadpan expression on its face.

_I'm terribly sorry, little one. Forgot you were there._

Himawari would have snarled at the fox if she could, alas her lungs will still trying to pull in enough air, so she settled for a choked out "Kill… you…" which caused nothing more than the fox to smirk at her discomfort. The two stayed in place for a while till Himawari caught her breath and managed to get to her feet, albeit wobbling back and forth for a moment.

_C'mon kid, I don't want to stand out in this sun in this form any longer than I have to. _

"I swear to god, Kurama, that if you ever do that again I'm going to…" her threat trailed off when she felt an odd chill run through her. Kurama froze on the spot, his ears pulled back and his eyes narrowed. His sharp nose was clearly picking up the scent of something strong.

_Blood. _Himawari nodded at the booming voice in her head and began running towards the village, her fists gripped so tight that her knuckles were rapidly turning white. As she pounded along the slippery sand, one sandal flew off. She grimaced but powered on, ignoring the loss of the paired one as well. If something was up, it was of higher priority that the pair got to the village and saw what was causing the vile smell in the air.

Their sprint was brought to a halt a little distance from the village's outskirts. There was a nasty maroon splatter across the sand and Himawari felt a wave of nausea run through her. Kurama passed her a questioning look, but she waved him off. She had to be strong from anyone who was in the village. Gently, she drew a kunai and took a deep breath to reorient herself before making her way past the stain. As they walked through the empty gate, there was a harrowing silence in the air. It was as if the entire village had stopped breathing. Himawari shivered. She wasn't used to such a lack of noise and felt tempted to yell out if not for the threat of danger.

Slowly, the pair walked through the silence, noticing patches of destroyed wall and cracked wood. There were ominous stains everywhere they walked, congealed maroon painting many of the floors and walls of buildings. It was weird. With all the blood around, she would have thought there would have been a body or two, but there was nothing. Kurama padded silently alongside her, his hackles raring. He'd been on edge ever since he'd smelt the blood and it seemed like something else was on his mind. Suddenly the fox froze on the spot, his face pulling back into a vicious snarl.

_Himawari, stay very still and don't leave this spot. _Her eyebrows softly rose and she lent in and scratched him once under the chin. The fox nuzzled her quickly before bolting off deep into the village, obviously following his nose. Himawari waited down in the sand and pulled out her flask. She was so thirsty and hadn't even realised it, the absentmindedness winning again. As she took a swig, she felt an odd rumbling in the loose sand. Paying no mind to it, she reached down and placed the engraved flask back in her satchel and suddenly a noise made her glance up. Kurama was barrelling back down the alleyway, running like, well, a fox out of hell. He shouted out mentally to her as he pounded towards her.

_GRAB ONTO MY FUR AND DON'T LET GO. _The desperation behind his words startled the girl and she reached out, grabbing onto a tuft of fur around his neck. The movement and his forward momentum yanked her thoroughly off her feet. The fox started to grow as he reaches the end of the alley and took a hard right, bolting flat out down the main street whilst the ominous rumbling grew greater.

As they bounded out through the main gate, Himawari desperately clambering up the fox's neck and an explosion erupted from behind them and Himawari was greeted with the vicious face of a Tanuki. As vicious as such a face could be, at any rate. There was a roar and a wave of sand pounded towards them, rocking the already unstable sand around them. Kurama desperately tried to accelerate, but he couldn't get his usual purchase on the raw surface. Bounding violently across the land, the great beast's paws could barely gain traction and he started to slip.

_KURAMA, COME HERE YOU BASTARD, YOU TRAITOROUS SCUM, I WILL REND YOU LIMB FROM LIMB AND TURN YOUR BONES INTO TOOTHPICKS!_

The vicious slurring was so loud that it made Himawari's head buzz. It made her feel like the entirety of her skull was vibrating. That harsh noise was so different to the booming voice of Kurama; were these two really from the same family? Kurama scrambled back to his paws, just in time to avoid a roaring tidal wave of sand that came crashing down upon the spot where they'd lain moments before. Then the onslaught began in earnest. It was beyond anything Himawari had ever seen, apart from a mock battle between her father and Sasuke. The two had thrown such unbelievable power at each other and this gargantuan was bringing back memories of it.

A claw of sand erupted from a nearby dune, swishing uselessly past Kurama's tail. Grimacing Kurama spun and swished his own claw at the sand, before roaring a wave of fire at it. The intensity caused Himawari to flinch backwards, holding a hand up to prevent her eyes from being blinded from the white hot flames. Kurama's snarl echoes for miles and for the first time in her short life, Himawari realised just how strong the beast was. He wasn't some mere house pet; he was a powerful being that could easily be seen as a demon.

It was awe-inspiring. Suddenly things started to click into place and Himawari realised what she needed to do. Mentally grabbing hold of Kurama's thoughts, she dragged his attention to her.

_"__Kurama, get closer to Shukaku!"_ Kurama looked at her in disbelief.

_Did your fall damage your brain child? I'm not getting any closer to him than need be. _

_"__Kurama, I'm telling you right now, get me within jumping reach of Shukaku!" _The nine-tailed fox looked at her in disbelief for a few moments before shaking his head.

_Your father would kill me for this._

There was a sudden jerk and a rush of motion as Kurama turned around and launched himself forwards. As he pounded towards the Ichibi, he dodged the large balls of chakra that were being launched at him. At the last second, he jumped in the air, Himawari starting to scramble up his head and prepared herself on his snout. Crouching on the nose was precarious enough, not factoring in the rushing wind and momentum behind her. As they drew close to the giant sand creature, she jumped from the nose, aiming for the middle of Shukaku's back. The thud jarred her to her bones, but her diminutive size had appeared to be barely registered by Shukaku. He continues to roar at Kurama, throwing off the attempted pounce. She groaned as she struggled to roll to her feet

The rapid swaying back and forth was making it hard for her to make progress along the giant tanuki's back, but she desperately made her way across, attempting to reach his head and ear. The sand is so course on her hands and she could feel it cutting her hands raw. Wincing and ignoring the slicing pain, she crawled further and further. The blood from her hands was starting to leave a trail of matted red, revealing the path that she'd taken. Every crawling inch was agony, but she pushed on. As she pulled herself along, she was reminded of the story about her father beating Uncle Gaara. He'd worked hard and dragged himself along the dirt, all to drag this lonely boy from his path of destruction, both of others and himself. If her father could do it at the same age, then she could too.

Hand over hand, clawing into the ragged sand, she pulled herself up the enormous neck, until finally she crowned over the peak of the head. She could barely feel her hands and every fibre in her body was screaming at her to stop inflicting this level of pain. Shakily, she made it to her feet and slid down to the enormous ear, screaming at the top of her lungs, desperate to make her voice heard of the catastrophic noise. "Shukaku!" However, the rushing air snatched her words away from her mouth and she dangled helplessly from the air as the Tanuki threw Kurama backwards along the sand. She desperately screamed once more, hopelessly trying to get the giant beast to be aware of her.

With a roar, Shukaku bucked and Himawari gasped as her hands were ripped free of the giant's ear. Explosively she hurtled through the air, curling into a ball. There was a roar in her head and she felt her flight slowing drastically before she came to a stop in Kurama's paw. His enormous eye panned down to her and she shakily raised a thumb to indicate that she wasn't too badly hurt. She was heavily winded, but it seemed like she'd blocked any serious injury. It looked like the giant fox had created some sort of buffer for her before she impacted on his palm, perhaps with a wind release of some sort?

There was silence upon their sandy battlefield as Shukaku glared at them; his beady eyes squinted awfully tight. Suddenly he took a menacing step towards them and roared, sand exploding around him.

_KURAMA HOW DARE YOU CORRUPT THE DAUGHTER OF BLONDIE. HAVE YOU PUT HER UNDER YOUR SPELL AND CORRUPTED HER TOO?_

Kurama sneered back, curling his arms over his chest.

_No you sand infested idiot, I did not corrupt her. She sought me out so that she could find you and the others. If you'd listened to me when I tried to talk to you, you would have heard me say 'I didn't kill all the people in this village'. _The giant fox shook his head, completely aggrieved by having to deal with the Ichibi. _ Maybe if you cleared those rat ears of yours out once in a while you'd see that listening to what others have to say is useful._

The two great beasts faced off for a few moments before they lowered their guard. Himawari beckoned for Kurama to lower her down onto the ground. Once she'd finally made it, she breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the giant Tanuki, making a gesture for it to come down to her level. As the giant beast reluctantly lowered its enormous body down to her eyelevel, or as close as it could come to it, Himawari raised her hand and smacked it down upon the giant snout. With a roar, Shukaku reeled backwards, an intense look of indignation spread across the vicious features. The small Uzumaki giggled as she looked up at the extremely comical expression upon the Tanuki's face.

"Okay, now that we've sorted that silliness out," she started with a smile, "Shukaku, I want you to come with me and Kurama."

_LITTLE BLUE HAIR, DO NOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO._

Himawari rubbed a single thumb around her temple, before responding. "I'm not telling you what to do Sandy-Tail; I'm asking you as your friend!" She grinned to emphasise the point. At the back of her mind, she found herself remembering the first time that she'd met the giant sand monster. She'd been carried on her papa's shoulders and he'd introduced the two. At the time, she was so tiny that she'd barely even seen the giant creature's head, even with all of the craning she could muster. A soft smile spread across her face at the memory.

The giant looked at her with an odd expression, gnashing his teeth back and forth before slamming a giant paw into the sand in frustration. The resulting geyser of sand ripped a whole in a nearby dune, showering Himawari and Kurama in a fine rain of granules. Giggling, she shook her hair back and forth, trying to clear out whatever sand was trying to make its home in her hair. Kurama looked as if he was considering his odd on get away with attempting to finish off the other bijū. After apparently deciding that the odds weren't worth it, Kurama lay down on the sand, curling up with his jaw resting beside the dwarfed Uzumaki.

_SHE'S A LOT LIKE HER FATHER, ISN'T SHE KURAMA? _It was odd, but apparently the Tanuki had decided to join them without a word of confirmation.

_She is. Now shut up, you're hurting my head._

The trio bickered a little more before looking to the wreckage of the town. Shukaku grimly shook his head before humming a melancholy tune. It was oddly amelodic, with a deafening vibration. Himawari could feel it from the tips of her hair to her toes and after a few repeats of the tune, she found herself humming along. The trio stood solemnly on the edge of the town, the tune gliding over the silent landscape. Finally the tune petered out as the sun started to crest over the horizon. The Uzumaki girl looked up and saw an expression on Shukaku's face that could only be sadness. For a beast that Kurama had described as completely rabid, the Tanuki was showing an incredibly vulnerable side of itself. She closed her eyes. It was hard enough looking forwards as a little girl, but for these two great beasts, how much more must it hurt?

Boruto stared at the sky, his amethyst eyes intensely focussed on one particular cloud formation. When he was younger, he'd always scoffed at the practice of cloud watching, but in recent times he'd found it more captivating than ever before. Softly his eyes panned across the wide expanses of the sky as sounds of steel clashing came from behind him. From the odd rasping, he could tell that the two girls were once again sparring. Ever since Mélisande had first shown off her odd weapon, Sarada had been fighting her in practice non-stop. Of course, it had taken a fair few drawn diagrams, a few injuries, and one odd look from Mélisande, but eventually they'd worked out how to signal that they wanted to spar. Sarada was obsessed with trying to memorise the intricate movements of the claw glove that was apparently permanently affixed to the woman's arm.

He rolled over onto his stomach and watched the two clashed together. Sarada's Sharingan was flashing brightly around as she flickered from side to side, attempting to get her tanto through the intricate defence of the older girl. Mélisande had a way of intricately twisting the steel claws just quick enough to block oncoming strikes, whilst also placing a certain degree of danger of being disarmed. The first few times Sarada had come at her, she'd barely lasted more than a few seconds before her sword was sent flying across the clearing. Slowly but surely, the pairs spars had grown longer and longer, once Sarada managed to get the trick of the odd shifting blade. Boruto had done his best to spar with her regularly as well, but since meeting the foreign girl, his enthusiasm and anger had waned. Were the people he was seeking revenge on really as nice and bouncy as the woman standing here? She reminded him a little of his sister, albeit with a little less of her infectious curiosity.

They'd slowly built up a group of words and phrases that they could use to communicate, building it up to the point where not everything had to be scrawled down in pictographic form. Mélisande couldn't quite speak with the same tongue and she still had a bit of trouble saying their names. A loud crack resounded and Boruto watched as a branch fell sideways, smashing into the ground. The blonde girl had a serene smile on her face as she reached for her weapon on her back, a "rifle" as she'd called it. The nasty blade on the far end had proved to be not the only attacking potential of the weapon, completely subverting Boruto's original idea that the weapon was some sort of club. Not to mention the way it could shoot a concentrated shot of chakra that could splinter bark as easy a person could walk. Even when Boruto had originally tried to fire the weapon, they'd found that it took huge focuses of chakra on them. The other girl could fire as many as 10 shots before she was exhausted of her supplies, but the two shinobi could manage a single shot.

There was the by-now familiar crack of light as the bright gold flash echoed from the end of the rifle and Sarada twisted to the side, precariously sliding under it. Watching the two clash was somewhat hypnotising but as per usual, the apparent experience difference between the two paid off. Mélisande feinted right, preparing as if to make a right swing before she shoulder checked the Uchiha, moving just quick enough to subvert the insane abilities of the Sharingan. Sarada choked and staggered backwards, before the butt of the rifle came smacking into her shoulder, knocking her to the ground with a yelp. The blonde stood over her with a cheeky grin, before extending a hand to the vanquished Uchiha. With barely a moment's hesitation, Sarada smiled back and grabbed the offered hand, pulling herself back to her feet, before brushing off her uniform. Mélisande wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead before turning to Boruto.

"We… Um… Should go. Now?" Her broken words came across stilted as always, but at least now she could get a few words across in every sentence. He still had to focus to make sure she didn't mean something else, but communication was improving.

"Yeah, let's pack up and keep heading for the border." Mélisande gave him an odd look and Boruto cursed himself, before quickly gesturing with his hands in the direction that they'd been headed in for the last couple of days. Since Mélisande knew the outside lands far better than they did, she'd agreed to help them find their way to the border and maybe a bit further in. She'd not been hugely excited to head back towards where she came from, but she couldn't really explain why.

It seemed something had scared her, so she'd uprooted and made a run for the elemental nations. But every time Boruto had tried to get a little more out of her about her family or about her upbringing, she'd changed the subject to fighting and then laid a beat down on him. As he thought about the girl's potential family, he felt a jarring feel of guilt as he thought about his own family. _Were they doing okay? Was mama doing alright?_ He knew there was a lot he'd have to make up for if he ever made it home. With a sigh, he hoped that his little sisters could forgive him.

Tiredly, he walked around and started packing up his spare equipment into his rucksack, neatly ordering his various ninja tools, before he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with the foreign girl. Her soft eyes were inquisitively looking at his bag and he felt a soft blush come creeping up his neck and into his cheeks. With a huff, stood up and zipped up the bag. The sudden movement got him an offended look from the girl, who pouted and slung her own bag over her back. The trio looked at each other in confirmation before moving on.

The forest was in the process of changing from a bright green to dull dying trees. The rivers were starting to become less full, as if the land was strangling itself. There were fewer birds in the trees and it was just a more ominous place. Mélisande shivered and pulled her scarf tighter around her, as if to protect herself from the sinister vibe. She whispered something and Sarada gave her a look, questioning and full of worry. "_The Malignant,"_ she said, quietly speaking once more. The two looked at each other, unable to understand the foreign language, but the feeling was there in the way that she spoke it and the look that she had in her eyes.

Boruto glanced around them. It was as if there was a huge pressure surrounding them, crushing their collective good mood from before. They slowly progressed through the forest, crunching through the dead leaves and howling wind. The two shinobi hadn't packed a huge range of clothes, so they were left shivering in the chilling breeze. Progress was slow but as the sun started to fade in the trees, they were forced to make camp. The trio set up their various sleeping gears and whilst Sarada grouped some stones together, Boruto climbed up a nearby tree to try and find some dryer wood. As he made it to the top of the trees, he tightened a hand around the main branch and leant out a bit, relaxing with the strong wind. His shaggy hair brushed around in the breeze and he gently looked out over the landscape. Nothing but dead trees as far as his strong eyes could see. It was at times like these that he envied his sister and her Byakugan. Between he and his little niece, who could see distances far further than he could, he was completely outclassed in vision. Even with his renowned reputation as a prodigy, Boruto still felt a pang of sadness that he hadn't inherited the dōjutsu of his family.

There was a rustle and creaking of branches and he turned to see Mélisande sitting on the branch opposite him, with a smile on his face. After staring awkwardly for a few moments, she pulled a small thing out of her jacket pocket, raising it to her lips. There was a soft whisper before the small instrument started to give a whispering sound, its soft melodic voice ran out through the dead trees. The odd song filled Boruto with a deep sense of sadness. Most of the instruments they played around the village and town were happy and held a bouncy fun sound, but this weird wooden instrument just had a melancholy voice. The two sat for a while as she played, idly whispering a song before she finally lowered the instrument and smiled. It wasn't the usual smile that was plastered from cheek to cheek though. Boruto nodded softly,

She opened her mouth to say something before Sarada's voice trailed up from down below. "Guys, this fire isn't going to be made if we try to light mushy sticks. Can you bring down some drier wood, something that I can light?" Boruto shook his head slightly and the motion brought a smile to the foreigner's face. The two started to climb down the tree, dropping from branch to branch, whilst Boruto quietly mused on the song. What kind of past could Mélisande have to allow her to play such sad music whilst constantly adorning her face with that smile?

_What does that smile mean?_


	8. Hindsight

_It's been a while! I'm determined to finish this up in the next couple of chapters at least and now that I've gotten through a lot of the IRL ridiculousness I was dealing with things should come a little easier! 3 chapters to go~ Let me know what you think!_

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><p>Mitsuki's bright golden eyes shined up at the sky and he breathed deeply as a bird flew past. He'd never been a fan of admiring the landscape for days on end. That was for artists like Inojin. Himself on the other hand? He was a realist. He was always looking for the most straightforward way to approach a situation. He wouldn't walk across the world searching for the meaning of life; he'd work his ass off till he made his own. Ever since his childhood, he'd known that nothing in his life was permanent, so he was damn well determined to work his way to glory, even if it meant breaking every bone in his body. A small smile passed his lips as he realised the irony of the statement.<p>

He twisted roughly, feeling his spine crack and pop, before releasing and stretching out in the grey morning light. Slowly he moved through the gentle stretching that he'd learnt as a child. It helped with feeling and acquainting himself with every intricacy of his body. His eyelids fluttered as he felt the flow of chakra through is body, intertwining it gently through the coils. From across the clearing, he could see his eyes glowing lightly from the chakra flowing through them. His dad has always taught him that half of the battle was to scare your opponent. An enemy who had golden eyes that shone like the sun when you stared at them was definitely halfway winning that battle in the first place. Groaning slightly, the boy shook out his arms, watching as the greenish chakra coiled around his wrists. It faded into the morning air and he looked across the clearing, coming eye to eye with a quiet looking man.

"Who are you?" Mitsuki asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. The man's head tilted slightly, and he shrugged.

"My name is Jūgo." Mitsuki's eyes narrowed more. He'd read stories about the Team Taka in his studies of Konoha's history and knew that they were responsible for some horrific acts both in affiliation with the most renowned members of the Uchiha and under the banner of his father. "I'm looking for Sasuke Uchiha; do you know where he is?"

Mitsuki smiled before calmly responding, "If you're looking for a Konoha resident, why don't you check the village where he lives first?"

A smile split Jūgo's face and he lightly nodded his head. "If I was allowed in the village, I would have checked, but the guards at the gate refused my entry due to 'Increased entry regulations'." Mitsuki nodded, knowing full well that at present no one could enter the village without documents, and he highly doubted that a former international criminal, not to mention semi-reformed felon, would be carrying papers on him as he travelled.

"Yeah, well, that's how it goes these days. Dangerous people are everywhere lately." _What was Jūgo's power again? Was he the one who could turn to water? No, no, the one who gave out life energy when you bit him? _Mitsuki was roused from his thoughts when Jūgo sat down on the ground and leant back against a tree, his eyes raised to the sky.

"There are no birds around Konoha anymore." His bright orange eyes sparkled as he looked up to the sky.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"When I used to visit Konoha years ago, birds were always singing, cicadas were always chirping and rabbits were always nuzzling." His voice was so soft for a man of his stature. _Oh. _Suddenly everything clicked into place. This wasn't the water guy or the vampire girl. Jūgo was the one with the tendency to snap into a violent rage and murder everything, whilst his normal self was so placid that every animal in the area would flock to converse with him. _Jūgo of the Scales. _

"Now the land is silent. The animals hide in the homes and wait out the storms. It's like they're in mourning." Mitsuki opened his mouth and raised a hand to protest before a raindrop smacked into his forehead. He raised his head and glared at the sky, as if to curse it for defying his will to win the argument.

Jūgo smiled softly, suddenly looking very tired. "Look, young one, I don't need to spend all day under this tree. Is Sasuke in the village or not?" Frustrated, Mitsuki turned away. He'd been taught from a young age that being honourable and trusting your friends and relatives came before being helpful to strangers, however, something about the serene older man made him want to be forthcoming.

"Sasuke left the village a few weeks ago, a few days after his daughter Sarada left. He said he had to go round up some old comrades by which I assume he meant you?" Jūgo looked stunned and squinted at the younger man.

"Sasuke is looking… for me?" He looked stunned - confused, even. He ran his hands along his cheeks, before cracking his knuckles and standing up. "I guess he'd go after Suigetsu first. I guess I know where I need to go." The giant smiled softly at Mitsuki before turning his back to walk away before stopping on the spot. "Mitsuki?" The boy froze and looked him with a look of disbelief on his face. "Your eyes are still glowing." Bringing his hands up his eyes, he realised that he'd never stopped circulating chakra through them and as a result his irises were still brightly glowing. Quickly he closed his eyes and focussed on taking the chakra away but as he opened his eyes, he realised that the man was already gone. _How the hell?_

_"Oh_." Everything clicked when he realised one key fact.

When he was younger, he'd had stories read to him by Jūgo and Suigetsu. Of course he knoew his name. Smacking himself in the cheek once, Mitsuki turned on his heel and turned to go back to the village. That was about as much self-idiocy that he could handle today.

Sasuke flinched as Suigetsu smacked him on the back. For all of his complaints, he'd returned to his boisterous self once Sasuke had dumped him a waterfall. That boisterousness had always bothered the composed Sasuke and it seemed like it really hadn't changed in the past 7 years since he'd last seen him. As they walked along the dirt path, Suigetsu was talking about some ridiculous story from "back in the day" and he just wouldn't stop. Sasuke brushed his hand past his pocket, looking for his phone. He flicked it out and looked at the small screen.

_Hey darling. We all miss you. Come home safe._

A small smile fluttered on his lips for a flicker of a second before he shut it and looked over at Suigetsu who was conjuring multiple hands out of his chest to make gestures to some no doubt lecherous tale between Suigetsu and god knows who. _Please not Karin. _At the thought of Karin, Sasuke flinched slightly and felt a pang of sorrow.

Karin had gone off the rails a few years after he'd last seen her. She'd been doing more work for Orochimaru, while ignoring all requests from Suigetsu and Jūgo to stop, and last anyone had heard she'd run off into the far east of the Elemental Nations. There, she'd locked herself in the laboratories where she'd spent a lot of time working with computers and files from years of research.

Suigetsu finished his latest tale of debauchery and looked at his map of the area, adjusting his course slightly. Just before he could launch into another epic tale of stupidity, Sasuke gestured at him to stop, pointing at the large door in front of them. "We're here."

"Oh really? I totally thought this was the local brothel." Suigetsu drawled with a bored expression on his face. Sasuke glared at him, his eye twitching, before turning back to the door and rapping on it three times sharp. The noise echoed through the presumably empty crevasse behind it, but there was no response. The two exchanged a glance, before Sasuke knocked another three times. There was silence for a bit before a resounding scream came from within.

"Fuck off, Sasuke Uchiha!" Suigetsu snickered before Sasuke's glance shut him up.

"Karin, let us in."

"I'm not letting idiots like you anywhere near my building." They both exchanged a glance and took a step away from the door. Suigetsu snickered and there was a pause for a few moments, before the door exploded outwards. Karin was standing there, red hair whipping around violently in the aftermath, her eyes basically glowing. "SUIGETSU, I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU." Suigetsu opened his mouth to say something before her fist crashed into his face and turned his head into a torrent of water. There was silence for a few moments and a dripping of water as Karin stood panting, Sasuke shocked, and Suigetsu headless. Finally there was movement as the water intertwined its way back up to Suigetsu's neck and reformed his head.

He shook it around a bit, before snarling at Karin, "For fuck's sake, Karin, you don't need to-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as the redhead smashed her fist once more into his face, splattering his water all over a nearby tree. Sasuke could have almost let himself chuckle over it if not for the hellish storm that turned around on him in that instant.

"And you," sneered the demon with glasses, "You leave me alone with Orochimaru and this vermin, get the family, the respect and redemption, but you never even sent me a fucking message to say hey, how are you doing?" She spat on his shoes and he barely managed to hold back his repulsion, "And let me guess, you need my help for some mundane problem that you need to have a healer who's quick around for, huh." Sasuke felt himself flinch a bit at the viciousness behind the words and expected to take a blow himself before he heard the door slam. Opening his eyes, he saw that she was gone. There was silence once more.

Suigetsu sighed a breath of relief before turning back to face Sasuke. "Look, couldn't we get your wife to help us out as a medic if we need one so badly?" The crimson flash of the Sharingan stopped him from saying anything else.

"Suigetsu, I'm not so callous to want to put the mother of my children and my wife on the front lines of a dangerous mission," he murmured, embarrassed a bit to be so frank about his feelings. "I have 3 children; I can't afford to be running her around the country with me." _I don't even want to myself._

"Then why are you running around like a kid again, huh?" It was like the man had a direct line into Sasuke's brain. Or everyone's for that matter.

"Because no-one in Konoha is suitable for dealing with this. This peace has numbed us to this new enemy, and they don't have any qualms about holding back."

"So what, it's gotta be the lone ranger, Sasuke Uchiha, coming back in to sort out them squares?" Suigetsu sneered.

"It's not like that."

"Yes it is. What, you don't think I see the way you're acting right now?

"Acting like what?"

"Like old Sasuke. Out to get revenge."

"This isn't about revenge.

"Yes it is."

Sasuke glared at Suigetsu who smirked back. He considered saying something more before turning his back on the man and staring at the steel plated door. Obviously, if he really wanted to he could demolish the door and drag out Karin, but that would be the wrong way to go about this. Maybe he could try the patented Naruto route at things.

"Karin, come on." _Off to a good start there Uchiha, nothing too extreme going on, nice and calm._

"This is really immature, and there's more at stake than our feelings at 17." _That's the way, nice and smooth._

"We've all come a long way from our days in Taka, and this is something big enough to warrant me leaving my children at home when I promised I'd never leave them again." _Okay, not too bad, bring up the youth card, that's always good._

"I know that I was a bit callous with you and not telling you that I was back-" _You're an idiot, Sasuke._

No sooner had he invoked that sentence, Karin exploded out and fixed a glare upon his face. Her fist froze a millimetre away from his nose and quivered slightly from held back intent.

"You know why I'm mad Sasuke. You abandoned us." she spat, her eyes glowing with vitriol and spite, "Showing up once in a blue moon when you need Orochimaru's help?" There was an awkward silence as she faced him, her eyes no longer furious; instead looking bitter.

"Suigetsu ran away. You never kept in contact. Jūgo wanders around the world talking to animals and forgetting his phone. For god's sake, I heard more from your wife than I did from you, Sasuke!" A small tear beaded in her eye and she hurriedly wiped at it before gritting her teeth and spitting at Sasuke's feet. "Bastards, why the hell do you think that either of you have the right to ask for my help?" Both men hung their heads, realizing that their treatment of the woman had been less than admirable. "That's what I thought."

She turned her back and walked away, hair swinging in the cool air. Except she wasn't walking in the direction of her laboratory. After a few hundred metres, she turned on her heel and shouted angrily. "Are you two idiots going to stand around gawking or are we going to actually do something?" The two exchanged a look before jogging after her. "I'm only coming with you idiots because I know that you'll make a mess of this on my own. I'm not letting the next generation deal with someone we should have all done."

Karin set a hard pace and was moving blisteringly quick. The two men glanced at each other once more, confused by their current heading. They weren't heading in a direction that would take them elsewhere in the Elemental Nations; they were heading in the direction of Konoha. Why on earth would Karin want to go back to Konoha if they were searching for Jūgo? The two hurried alongside her as she pulled out a device from a satchel on her shoulder. There was a soft blue arrow pointing and what looked like a moving dot moving swiftly across a map. "Jūgo is currently on the outskirts of Konoha, presumably he's looking for you." The matter of fact tone brought back memories to Sasuke, but as he went to agree with the woman, Suigetsu cut across him bluntly.

"And how the hell are you tracking him exactly, hm?"

"None of your business." Sasuke blanched at the statement and ran a hand over his chest. He really hoped that she had no way to track him and his family. Even if she no longer had her obsessiveness over him as a romantic interest, she still had a tendency to be way too protective over his children. His mind wandered as he remembered the horrific incident with the mother's group, before slightly shaking his head. No matter how many times he'd apologized to the Kumo-nin, the red wine and birthday cake stains just never came out.

The three continued on the blistering pace in silence with Suigetsu no longer reverting to tales of debauchery to pass the time. Rather, he looked sheepish. Sasuke knew that Suigetsu had pursued Karin as a romantic interest for a while, but he'd just assumed that the pair had settled down and calmed down a bit. As he mused in silence, the group moved through the trees. Sasuke sighed. In the old days, they'd always been at each other's throats, but it never seemed like they outright hated each other.

Now, it was as if oceans stood between all of them, with a gaping maw of terrifying teeth between each of them and their present states. Unconsciously, he squeezed his right hand and the soft crinkling of his leather glove. The lack of his left arm was still noticeable in every small facet of his every day work. Whilst he mused on, Suigetsu seemed to get a little twitchier, quickly shifting his arm back and forth between its water and solid states. The soft splashing filled the air for a few moments before Karin slashed a blade through one of his extended arms. Sasuke sighed before looking once more at his phone.

It wasn't often that Boruto found himself face down in a pile of bushes with the branches raking long red marks into his skin, but today seemed to be full of surprises. The trio had been wandering through the dead forest when suddenly out of nowhere; Mélisande had grabbed both of the shinobi and thrown them face down into the bushes, before diving down behind them. As he hit the bush, he barely had time to brace, while Sarada hissed in pain. However, despite their respective pains, the two couldn't talk or utter complaints due the older girl putting a hand over both of their mouths, and holding them down.

Boruto angrily started to curse her out before a quick glare from Sarada cut him short. He glanced forward and froze when he saw what Mélisande had spotted. There were three men standing still, weapons in hand. He slowly looked at one of the men who was clothed in tight metal armour. There was a long scar splitting his face, making him look as if he was contorted in pain. Mélisande however, was more focussed on the middle man of the group, who was not nearly as physically intimidating. He had long blonde hair and a soft look in his blue eyes. He even resembled Inojin in an odd sort of way.

The big scarred man kicked something on the ground before spitting onto it, and laughed. Boruto's eyes widened as he realized the man had just kicked the immobile body of a women. The laugh was a horribly, grating noise that could have passed for a wood saw. As the giant turned back, there was a flash of steel in the morning light, and the man's head came clean off, rolling a few metres, then coming to a stop. The body swayed for a few moments, before collapsing to its knees and smashing into the dirt. Boruto gasped a sharp intake of air when suddenly Mélisande's hands grasped at his throat and mouth wildly. The scuffle was brief, but there was heart stopping moment of silence as the blonde man turned towards the bush and stood perfectly still, his soft eyes bearing into the plant.

Boruto quietly mused over how such a ruthless man had such soft eyes, those eyes slowly gazed back and forth over the brush before they slowly closed. The shorter man wiped his sword off on the dead man's cloak before he muttered something to the remaining man, and they strode off along the path. He shot a glare at Mélisande, wanting to be released, but found himself silenced by a second set of eyes. Sarada's dark eyes begged him to keep his mouth shut. It was odd, but for the briefest of moments he felt like his old self again. Finally, the excruciating silence was ended when Mélisande nodded softly.

Sighing with relief, he plied Sarada's hand off his mouth and took a deep breath of fresh air. "Who was that guy?"

Sarada shrugged but Mélisande had pulled out her notepad from her bag, slowly writing large characters.

_Evil man. Demon. _Sarada quizzically looked at Boruto,

"Where the hell did she learn the character for demon?" He smirked at her confusion, turning away.

_What weapon does he use? Does he have chakra? _He made sure to do a quick demonstration of him flaring his chakra, with a short gesture to the sign. She raised an eyebrow and made a small gesture, a green fire bursting out on the palm of her hand.

"_Magic?" _He nodded.

"Yeah, chakra. Does he use it?" She shook her head and started drawing a diagram in the dirt. While she drew, Sarada cracked her neck and Boruto could sense her reaching out with her chakra to try and sense the man. After a few moments, her eyes flashed open and she choked, falling to her knees. Chakra started sparking and rising from her skin, coming off in nightmarish clouds. After a few moments, she collapsed to her stomach, gasping for air. Boruto grabbed her and rolled her onto her back, quickly checking her breathing and airway. After making sure she wasn't in any immediate danger, he propped her up and gave her some space. Mélisande abandoned her drawing and rushed over to the pair.

Mélisande stopped by his shoulder, one hand nervously digging in. Sarada shook her head groggily a few times, before gesturing for some water. Boruto passed his flask to her and she greedily swallowed at least half of the contents before coming up for air. Her eyes were unfocussed and shaking back and forth between the sharingan. Finally they settled on her normal shade and she rubbed the back of her hand over them a few times.

"Ow ow ow," she hissed through her teeth, "That was definitely the worst idea of my life."

"What happened?" Boruto asked, feeling the worry oozing from his tone.

She rubbed a hand through her hair before continuing, "It's like, when I was trying to sense his chakra, I hit some sort of wall that trapped me in that genjutsu. Except with real world pain."

"A Genjutsu which does more than putting you to sleep?" The Uchiha were renowned for having powerful genjutsu but he'd never expected other people to have similar techniques. He knew that when they left the Elemental Nations that everything would get a little different, but the idea of jutsu that he'd never seen before… That was concerning. From the different ways that Mélisande fought to the different forms of jutsu being shown off by a man that terrified her with a weapon that was barely visible.

Could he really get revenge on people who were so different that he didn't know anything about their way of fighting at all?

Sarada sighed lightly and leant back against the tree, breathing deeply. Mélisande knelt down in front of her, before lightly placing her fingers on her forehead. A soft blue fire ebbed from her touch and Sarada's cheek twitched. After a few minutes of the light flickering, Sarada coughed slightly, and an ominous purple steam rose from the crown of her head. Her eyes focussed and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

The trio sat quietly for a few moments before Boruto broke the silence, his eyes flickering to Mélisande, whose face was downcast and looked very worn out. Tiredly, she wiped at her forehead and slumped down next to Sarada, quietly panting. Sighing, he opened his rucksack and ruffled through it, looking for his canteen. As he passed it to Mélisande, she gulped down a few mouthfuls before passing it back, her eyes thankful. The silence was nerve racking, and he got up, grinding his knuckles into his hips. The constant roll of his knuckles back and forth across his jacket was something he'd started as a kid, and continued to do to the present, much like his scrunching of his fringe.

As he walked around the clearing, Mélisande was slowly writing on her pad of paper. Boruto gently closed his eyes and started to hum quietly before an exclamation brought his attention back to the scene.

"What do you mean he's your brother?"

The Uzumaki spun on his heels, his eyes wide. Could he possibly have misheard that? There was no way that the bright girl in front of him could be related to the silent, soft eyed man that had so callously murdered one of his own. But as he looked at her eyes, he could see the similarity in the shape of her eye ridge, and the distance in them, even if they were warm and calming.

Mélisande nodded and started to think hard. "He's my two?"

Sarada's eyebrows scrunched, before replying, "Twin? Born at the same time?" She made a few awkward gestures in the air to get her point across and Mélisande nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"Yes, yes, that!" Mélisande's eyes flashed brightly as she nodded a few times. Boruto's breath caught in his throat. How could that man with such a cold aura be related to the lightness of the girl in front of him? Boruto looked into the forest, his eyes tracing where the man had just been. Things were starting to get dangerous, and he wasn't sure if he was quite ready for that.

As he walked to pick up some of his dropped gear, Boruto glanced down at the picture that Mélisande had drawn in the dirt. It was a rough drawing of the man from before clad in a sort of armour that was from what he could tell, glowing. His sword was also being weilded one handed, with one hand apparently containing… a ball of light? The drawing wasn't finished so Boruto couldn't really tell. He wondered just what the strange man was capable of.

The sky was a beautiful place. Himawari had always loved to lie on her back and look up at it. She'd dream of all the things that could happen further than her eye could see. Rumours had it that her own father had fought by the side of her mother up on the moon to save her aunt. She'd always dreamed of doing the same one day.

What she hadn't wanted was to be thrown into the sky, like some sort of human ball. As she soared through the air, the wild winds tossed her around and she screamed. It was awful curving through the air like this, with no way to control her descent or direction. Mentally she cursed Kurama, wishing that he'd get thorns in between his paws as she flew towards the surface of the lake. The explosion erupted upwards, sending an enormous wave of water hurling towards the shore as she plunged down into the depths of the water.

It was silent underneath the water as she sank deeper, with the rough sounds of conflict being dulled by the blackness. _It's so cold_, she mused as her body sank down. As the shock of hitting the water at such a great speed wore off, she started to kick her way back to the surface, carving big strong strokes.

_"That's the way Himawari, big arms and kicks, just like a frog." She raised her tiny head up out of the water and smiled a huge grin at the giant that was her father._

Her lungs started to burn as she struggled upwards, her mind filled with images of her childhood swimming lessons. The surface was so far away… every stroke made it seem so far.

_"C'mon Himawari! Use those strong legs of yours to push harder," he laughed as his hands helped guide her through the water._

The strokes were starting to get weaker as she pushed herself harder and clawed desperately at the water; her tired fingers struggling to form the cups that they needed to create force.

_"Do it for me Himawari!"_

She exploded on to the surface of the water, gasping desperately. The fresh air filled her lungs as she panted and pulled herself out onto the surface of the water. Light from the sun blinded her, so she took a few moments to adjust to the brightness and rested her exhausted arms. Desperately she tried to hold on to the images of Naruto. The images of her father slowly faded from her mind and she felt herself welling up a little. Suddenly an enormous roar ripped her out of the daze.

_Himawari?!_

The roar of the nine-tails echoed through her mind as she lay still. There was a pounding on the surface of the water and the slightly-smaller than giant fox was glancing down at her. His crimson eyes were filled with worry as she panted softly. She raised one shaking hand and grabbed onto his fur to pull herself upright. The sounds of conflict still continued in the background, while the angry sounds of one very peculiar creature echoed.

Once her hand made contact with the fox's hide, there was a sudden rush of chakra through her body causing her to jump in shock. She gasped as the energy rushed through her exhausted limbs and shook her hand as if to shake it off. Kurama smirked and spoke softly.

_I'm sorry about the throw, little one, that wasn't exactly well thought out on my part._

She shrugged and shook her hair off to get some of the lake water out, not to mention a dead leaf that was tangled into her fringe. After wringing out the last of the water, she brushed off her clothes and turned back to Kurama. "Let's go help Shukaku."

_The fight had broken out a little after midnight. The trio had been scouting for the two-tails, Matatabi, on the outskirts of Kumogakure for a week when they'd spotted some odd looking individuals breaking camp. As they'd approached, Himawari had felt an intense sense of dread to her core as she looked at the people sharpening their bladed weapons and speaking in a harsh barking language that her brain couldn't process. From the way Kurama's hackles rose, she could tell that these people were obviously from the same group who'd attacked him in the outside countries. _

_The trio quietly watched as the weird outsiders sparred and practiced with each other, while a small group were doing what looked like some weird form of ninjutsu. Their techniques were cast in such a different way that it made Himawari worried. If they even used chakra differently, then how were they supposed to face up to an enemy like this? Suddenly a tall woman in a robe came out, shrouded in a purple haze. Her eyes parsed the camp and everyone stood to attention. As she spoke in the harsh tongue, Himawari suddenly had a dawning of realisation. _

_It came too late as a wall of purple flames exploded in front of them, throwing them backwards, Kurama yelping in pain. Through the flickering flames, the robed woman was pointing and screaming what were clearly orders to the dazed troops who piled out of their tents. Himawari grabbed hold of Kurama and pushed him ahead of her as she stumbled backwards, desperately grabbing at her belt to try and get a smoke pellet out. Shukaku bared his fangs before bounding backwards as another explosion of purple flame ignited near his face. Finally, she found her smoke pellets and threw a handful at the oncoming horde. There were shouts of confusion as the thick choking smoke exploded outwards and Himawari took the opportunity to run. _

_The stumbling path she took through the sparse trees was horrific as her eyes streamed from the acrid smoke made her eyes run and the loud cracking fire of the awful weapons the enemy had. Trees branches broke and bark splintered into her face as she zigzagged through the forest. The acrid smell of burning wood had started to fill the area and she realised that the woman had started a fire to chase her down. Praying for her companions, she started to run harder, even as the heat started to lick at her back. _

_Suddenly, she felt a claw grab the back of her jacket, hoisting her up into the air. Screaming, she started squirming around, trying to desperately free herself from the enemy, before a roar in her head revealed that her captor was in fact Kurama. Dangling helplessly from the enormous paw, she felt herself swing backwards before ungraciously being slung through the air. Screaming, she squeezed her eyes shut…_

And she opened her eyes once more. The whole encounter had taken barely any time at all, yet the way it filled her mind made her feel like it had taken hours. Kurama was limping slightly ad she could see multiple gashes on his fur and matted blood coating his underbelly. The pair made their way towards the loud crashing in what was left of the forest, when suddenly there was what could unmistakeably only be a howl. Exchanging a quick glance, the pair darted to the sound and came face to face with two bijū fighting side by side, sending wave after wave of enemy scattering. Waves of flames poured from Matatabi as she twisted back and forth, slashing at enemies, drawing blood and crushing all that stood before her enormous size. Shukaku stood by her side, resolutely smashing his paws into the ground and swinging a fallen tree like a broom.

Kurama and Himawari stood back in awe as the pair forced the last of the shattered forces back into the distance, with Matatabi letting out one final roar of defiance as the troops fell back. Only one was left standing and her defiant aura was enough to make Matatabi pull back. That same woman from before was standing proudly on her own, a large sword clenched in two hands. Her shoulders were adorned with that purple fire and her hair was rising around her as she started to stalk towards them. Shukaku, not one to be antagonised, pounded forwards before Himawari could get him to stop.

The sword flashed violet and the woman swiped it right once. Shukaku looked smug as he closed the distance. Swords were nigh useless against a bijū. Suddenly a bright purple afterimage exploded to life and slammed into his side, hurling him sideways through the smouldering forest. As the giant struggled to rise to his feet, another slash from above sent him back into the dirt. He didn't get back up.

Matatabi was more cautious and opened her mouth, starting to create what was unmistakeably a Tailed Beast Bomb. Himawari's eyes widened as Kurama bounded to the side of the bakeneko and started to form a similar blast of his own. The foreign woman didn't even bat an eyelid, screaming some form of incantation at the top of her lungs, before swinging the sword once more. As the sword finished its arc, its spectre grew once more. With its arc completed, she… placed it back in its sheath, a smirk painted on her white skin. The two bijū looked at each other in confusion, all the chakra from their bombs completely dispelled. With a click of her tongue, she turned around and walked off in the direction of her fleeing troops.

It was only then that Himawari noticed the look of fatigue and dripping sweat from the woman's face. Evidently using that weird form of chakra took an immense toll on her and she'd reached her limit. Kurama started as if to move in pursuit, before collapsing. Something about the final slash had exhausted both his chakra levels and body. Obviously the woman was suffering too because as her form moved into the distance, she staggered, before being grabbed by one of the soldiers. Himawari briefly considered following after her, but seeing the state of the bijū made her decide against it. Even if the woman was exhausted, she clearly posed a huge threat.

The exhausted bijū had both shrunk down to a regular size, with Matatabi shakily trying to stand and Kurama just opting to nap right there. Himawari could feel her own exhaustion finally biting back into her, the boost that Kurama gave her starting to wear off. Quickly, she staggered across the newly made clearing to Shukaku's side to check how he was doing. Fortunately, from the loud snoring that was starting to emanate from the large Tanuki, he was doing just fine. Slumping to the ground, she let out an enormous sigh of relief. To see her friends get when she couldn't do anything for them was worrying. Staring once more at the evening sky, she wondered if her brother was thinking about her and the rest of their family. She hoped her mother was starting to get better. As the girl dozed off in the soft evening air, she dreamed of a warm home filled with smiles.

Inojin stared out the window of his room and sighed. The gash on his cheek was aching from the cold weather. It was late night and he couldn't bring himself to sleep. When he slept, he had vivid flashes of the men he'd killed in the battle and woke up screaming. His parents had been trying to comfort him where they could, but there was only so much that they could do. He'd taken to sleeping less and training more in order to leave himself exhausted to the point where he no longer dreamed. It just meant that he had to spend some days forcing himself to stay awake as long as he possibly could.

His fingers ran down the nasty gash and he gritted his teeth. After the battle, the not quite healed wound had gotten infected from the dirt and mud and was still taking a while to completely fade. Even with medical jutsu, it was useless. While some of his admirers had started to talk with new zest about how cool he looked with a scar, he still caught the backend of conversations where people would glance at him and look away. Shikadai and Chōchō tried to reassure him and acted like things were normal, but reality was that the battle had changed them all.

Sighing, he stretched out and lay back on his bed, checking his phone. There were a few messages from people, but one stood out.

[Takara]: I'm on your windowsill, come out here. [2:13 AM]

Inojin's eyebrows knotted and he opened his window and saw the. She was sopping wet and her brown hair was a mess. He climbed out behind her and sat down, curiously looking at her. "So, uh, Takara, what brings you here so early in the morning?"

She sighed and started to wring out her hair, "I've seen you running around the village early in the mornings lately and figured out roughly how you've been feeling. Plus Chōchō told me that you hadn't been sleeping." Inojin fidgeted under her unnerving stare, her brown eyes boring into his. He shrugged and leant back against the wall, hands running through his hair.

There was an awkward silence as they sat quietly, watching the pouring rain.

"My team is dead."

Inojin froze and it was like the rain got horribly loud. Takara had hung around a bit since first meeting them and she'd always seemed shy and quiet, but he'd just attributed it to her being similar to some of the girls who followed him around. He hadn't realised there was something deeper to it.

"We were out on a recon mission just after becoming chūnin and we were all riding that post-promotion excitement. I don't know if that's what messed us up, but we made the fatal mistake of going to close to our targets, which were two bandits from the outer nations. Before I knew it, they had both of my teammates on the ground, telling me that if I didn't come out they'd cut their throats. I took the step forward, and they did it anyway." Tears welled up in her eyes, and Inojin placed a hand on her arm, his eyes full of sympathy. "So I ran for it and the Hokage stopped them in their tracks and slammed them so hard into the dirt I thought he killed them. He saw the bodies of my teammates and just gave me this big hug and…"

Her voice stopped as she wrapped her arms around Inojin, sobbing softly into his collar. For a few seconds, he sat there stunned as she sobbed, before he tightened his arms around and sobbed. Once. Twice. And then he started crying in earnest as he let out all the grief he'd been holding in. His chest was tight as he saw all the faces again, all the blood. The guard at the gate. Seeing his friends leave the village and not knowing if they'd come back.

After a while, his sobs became more of a racketing hiccup and slowed down to heavy breathing. Takara smiled and slowly let go of him, leaning back against the wall. Inojin wiped at his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. There was a rattling and another window opened and his parents leaned out, devious looks on their faces.

"Make sure you use-" Sai started before Inojin's shoe smacked into his nose. Ino giggled and pulled her husband inside. Blushing from embarrassment, Inojin turned to apologise but Takara was smiling softly.

"I want to be more than just the girl who lost her team, y'know?" She looked up at the grey sky and closed her eyes. "That's why I wanted to hang out with you, Chōchō and Shikadai. You are all these tough guys who don't let anything scare you and you work as the perfect unit. But it's more than that." Her eyes met his once again. "Each of you are strong. You want to become a Hokage. Shikadai wants to buck the trend and be an excellent shinobi who doesn't have to just be an advisor. Chōchō wants to be a versatile kunoichi who's on the level of legends like Tsunade and Sakura."

Inojin nodded before lowering his head. "I'm not sure if I have what it takes to be Hokage though. Maybe if I just aim to be a strong ninja-" He was cut off as she knocked her knuckles against his forehead. The small action was so shocking that he stopped venting and just stared at her, jaw open.

"You can do it Inojin. People are still talking about how brave you were going up against that foreigner and then again during the assault. You led the charge and showed the village that even a young Jōnin is still incredibly strong. The people are feeling safer now knowing that we can repel an enemy like that." She smiled and it lit up her face. "It just shows me that I need to train even harder to close the distance between us."

"You're pretty cool Takara."

"You're not too bad yourself, Inojin." After that, the morning rain and quiet wasn't so awkward. Inojin felt his eyes drooping and rested his head gently against hers.

"Don't let me sleep too long." She nodded and shuffled a bit closer so he could lean comfortably against her. The sleep that came wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting. It wasn't filled with blood and the dreams weren't as violent as he'd expected. It was filled with soft warmth and the smiles of his friends.

When his eyes cracked open, it was still softly raining and he could smell a soft jasmine smell. He started to turn his head when he realised the odd weight on it was Takara's head, resting on his. With a soft smile, he gently shimmied her around so that her head was resting on his lap and looked out over the rainy village. Inojin couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so refreshed and sighed a breath of relief. Everything seemed a little clearer now.

Softly, he flicked her in the forehead and as she groaned and wiped at her eyes, he lifted her against the wall. After a few moments of letting her adjust, he stepped out into the rain and grinned as it soaked into his long hair and clothes. Takara was still trying to shake herself awake and squinted at the strange boy laughing in the rain. "What a guy."


	9. Mobilise

**_Hima's Journal – Day 43_**

_Only just found the Sanbi! Isobu was living at the bottom of a giant lake in the north! I had to swim under the water and make a lot of noise so that he'd come out and see what the commotion was. He wasn't exactly happy to have to leave the lake and was pretty nervous about leaving. Kurama gave him a pretty stiff lecture; I've never seen the big furball so bossy!_

_(Don't tell him that I called him a big furball, he'll probably get all sooky again hehe.)_

**_Day 50_**

_We were in luck today! Found Son Gokū and Chōmei in one forest together! They seemed to be pretty surprised to see 4 tailed beasts and me! Chōmei talks funny and it talks about luck a lot! Son Gokū talked about dad a lot though, that was pretty cool! He seems not to like people very much though…_

_In less good news, we were ambushed by a bunch of the enemy! They tried to overwhelm us with numbers but we beat them good. I made sure to steal one of their 'rifle' things and I'm going to try and draw it as well as take a photograph of it. We don't really have anywhere to keep it, so I'll throw it in a lake or somewhere that it can't hurt anyone else._

**_Day 62!_**

_What a crazy day! We took down a camp full of soldiers and sent them running for the border. Kurama snapped one of their rifles in his mouth and I think a few of the soldiers cried in fear! They aren't so scary now that we're fighting them more!_

**_Day 70_**

_We found Kokuō in a big forest! Apparently he told papa that he was done with everyone and wanted nothing to do with the affairs of us mortals and hid himself away in this big forest near Iwagakure. It took sooo long to get him to come with us! He was so polite though! I really like his head, but don't tell Kurama, or he'll get jealous._

_(Oh no, I think he heard me think that!)_

**_Day 78_**

_We had to go talk to the Raikage today and ask if he would let us take Gyūki with us. He seemed pretty reluctant but let us try to convince Gyūki. Gyūki was pretty sad when we talked to him, because he lost his jinchūriki Killer B. He had to be reborn into the world again and he was grieving that his friend couldn't come with him! He's very sensible and I like him a lot (he likes head pats!). He decided to come with us because he said that "If Naruto's daughter asks for my help, I can't really decline. Papa had so many friends! _

**_Day 80_**

_While we were resting up outside of Kumogakure, we had to defend the village from a big attack of invaders! They were carrying a big flag and everything. Kurama set it on fire and trapped their leader under his foot. It seems like the soldiers aren't as scary as that one purple woman we encountered! She's still out there, but there's not a trace of her anywhere. I'm kind of worried._

**_Hima's Journal – Day 100! The big 100!_**

_We've found all of the tailed beasts! It's been crazy busy every day, because it's a bit hard to explain a twelve year old wandering around with 9 pets. Last time we got food, I'm pretty sure they thought I was a ghost! It reminded me of when papa tried to bring Kurama through the main streets of Konoha and nearly scared everyone to death! _

_I'm a bit lonely though, I miss Aoki and Boruto, not that I'd ever tell __**her **__that (hehehe). This is pretty hard, some of the bijū are tired of fighting and don't want to fight with us, but they also don't want to lose the elemntal nations. The other day we found out that the invaders go under the banner of "The United" in their language. We're not really sure what it means yet but it sounds pretty scary!_

_We're heading back to Konoha to show everyone that they have nothing to worry about! _

Himawari finished the last entrance in her journal with a flourish and a big grin. The road had been hard and her clothes were a filthy mess, but she was proud of herself. She'd dragged the tailed beasts back to reality and they'd agreed to defend their homeland. If only her dad could see her now! He'd be so proud. That thought warmed her heart and she stood up tall on Kurama's back as they padded along.

It was a bit disappointing to be back in the wet forest but Himawari was happy as she got closer to home. It'd been 3 months of hard work, but she felt stronger for it. Her techniques were stronger and her body felt far stronger. She'd practiced running everyday, as well as doing training against the bijū in order to strengthen her resolve and jutsu. When she flexed her arms, she could feel muscles where there hadn't been before and it made her excited.

The bijū moved like a big heard, constantly conversing, sometimes quiet, sometimes arguing. It was almost a family and Himawari felt completely at home around them. After an hour, she spotted the top of the skyscrapers that made up the back of Konoha's skyline. It'd been so long that she could almost swear that they'd gotten taller. She excitedly bounced around on Kurama's head as they got closer to the village gate.

She could have sworn that the Chūnin guarding the gate was about to pass out at the sight of the 9 tailed beasts. There was a commotion as people, shinobi and merchants alike swarmed to the main gate, desperate to see who had brought the formidable creatures to their doors. The clamoring crowd quietened down as Konohamaru came forth and looked up at the little girl who was sitting atop the once feared fox.

"Himawari, what on earth?" Her face lit up with joy and she leapt from her perch and landed on top of the Hokage. Jaws dropped around her as she happily bounced off the village leader and landed on the dirt with a grin.

"I brought the bijū! So now we have a good defense against the invaders!"

Konohamaru's eyes widened as she bubbled, "Hold on, back up, Himawari. What do you mean, invaders?" He looked stunned. "How many of them are there?"

Himawari screwed up her face, "We're not sure but we knocked a few groups running that were hiding in the forests around the Fire Country." Some of the senior shinobi looked shocked at the casual way she talked about the threat to the village. In a lot of ways, she was still young.

She glanced around at the village and noticed scorch marks and boarded up windows. Her eyes focussed in on some of the people standing around and noticed just how many were injured. Her shocked must have been evident because Konohamaru sighed and nodded. "We need to talk in the Hokage's office." Quickly he ordered the villagers away before politely bowing to the bijū. "Would you mind standing outside the village while I talk to Himawari in my office?" Kurama nodded once, before turning away and slowly padding off.

As the Hokage led her hurriedly through the village, Himawari's eyes were drawn to the buildings around them. There was damage everywhere, from cracked bricks to knocked down trees. She could see the similar scorch marks from the enemies weapons everywhere and wondered just how much had happened during her adventure. A jolt ran through her as she realised that her mum might have been hurt.

"Konohamaru!" she shouted, worry filling her voice, "Is mama and Mina okay?" Konohamaru nodded, before stopping and patting her on the shoulder comfortingly.

"Things aren't quite as bad as they look."

Looking around at the damage, Himawari wasn't quite sure she agreed.

Finally, they made it to the Hokage building and were let inside by two formidable looking ANBU. They had never been there before so she figured it must have been a new safety precaution. As they walked through the building, Himawari snuck a glance at Konohamaru. His eyes were rounded by dark looking bags, and his skin was a little pallid. He musn't have been sleeping much or at all.

The Hokage's office was filled with people, all talking loudly. As soon as Konohamaru entered they all looked at him with worried looks. Himawari realised that because of how paranoid the village was, a small child appearing on a giant beast must have sent them into a worried fit. She felt a bit bad for causing that much of a disturbance to their already stressed out time. Konohamaru made his way across the room and sat down sloppily in his chair, obviously exhausted.

"Okay, now Himawari, I need you to explain where you've been and what you've learnt," he asked, his voice strained.

"A-am I in trouble?" She was worried that she'd accidentally made a misstep and didn't want to trouble him anymore.

"No, not at all. Right now we need every bit of information we can get on the enemy." Suddenly, a small switch clicked in the back of her head and Himawari grabbed her satchel. Rustling through the bag, she mumbled under her bag as she rustled. The eyes of every adult were on her and she knew that they were judging everything she did and said. With a squeak of success, she pulled out her journal and held it out to Konohamaru. He held out his hand and took it from her, flicking through the pages. She'd been keeping drawings and photos of all the enemy techniques where she could. It was also there that she'd noted every time they'd come into contact with the strongest enemies like the purple woman.

The 8th Hokage looked astounded as he flipped through the pages, his smile growing bigger with each diagram or explanation of techniques. As he flipped the last worn page, he turned to one of his assistants. "I need you to scan this immediately and get every page under analysis and pulled apart as soon as possible." Turning, he gave Himawari a grateful smile. "You've done a great job for the village Himawari, your dad would be proud."

She grinned and nodded her head. She was always happy to hear those words and hearing them from the new leader of the village on made her all the prouder. Suddenly, she remembered something and quickly asked to leave. Konohamaru looked perturbed but let her go. She rushed out into the hallway, bolting as fast as she could through. As soon as she was outside, she ran towards the Hyūga compound, going hell for leather.

She skidded to a stop outside the building, pounding on the door. A confused maid answered the door, and was blown away as the young Uzumaki blew past her into the building. As she flew through the intricate building, she moved straight for the courtyard. Finally, she stumbled out and saw her sister sitting on the grass next to her mother, who'd turned to see what all the fuss was about. The look on her mother's face was priceless.

The other thing she noticed was how much better her mother looked. Her hair was tidy, her clothes were clean and her eyes were much brighter. She was no longer the shell that had locked herself in her room and been unable to talk or eat for days at a time.

Standing up, Hinata took a few stumbling steps towards Himawari who rushed to her side and pulled her into her chest. It was only then that Himawari noticed something odd. Had her mother shrunk? Pulling back from the hug she looked carefully and was confused that her mama didn't really look all that different.

Suddenly the light switched on and she gasped. She'd grown! She'd been so caught up in all the drama going on while with the tailed beasts, not to mention just how big they were, that she'd not even noticed that she'd had a big growth spurt, putting her as just a bit taller than Hinata. Hinata smiled and clasped her daughter's face in her hands. The expression was filled with so much love that the filthy girl felt herself welling up with emotions. She leant in on her mother and started to sob heavily.

"I'm home mama, I'm finally home!"

Inojin was patrolling the city walls with Shikadai when news of Himawari's return reached him. The two had been regularly working as much as they could at the defence, aiming to force back any of the irregular raids that had been happening for the past month. There hadn't been a full scale attack since, but it was only a matter of time before the main force regrouped and got its act together. Both the teens had been training hard with their jutsu in an attempt to account for their opponents weaknesses and it was showing in the way they looked.

Shikadai looked at Inojin excitedly when a runner came to them with news that _all _of the tailed beasts were at the main gate and standing on top of Kurama, the nine-tails, was no other than Himawari Uzumaki. Even though Shikadai had begged, Inojin had refused to go, insisting that they could catch up with the blue-haired girl after their shift on the wall ended. Even though he called him a spoilsport and a douche, Shikadai had kept his head together for the rest of their shift.

When they finally clocked out, the two made their way to the Hyūga compound, grabbing Chōchō from the Hokage's office on the way. She'd been helping out with the intelligence division lately. Ever since the start of the regular attacks, everyone had been needed to fill every possible position and the team hadn't had a lot of time to spend together. As they rushed to see their friend, Inojin wondered just how long it had been since they'd had something to look forwards to.

Upon reaching the building however, they found it surrounded by crowds of people, including a group of reporters who were interviewing a slightly-embarrassed looking Himawari who was doing her best to answer all of the questions. As soon as the interview finished, the trio rushed forwards and grabbed the girl, dragging her inside the compound. Giggling hysterically, they all leant back the wall looking at their friend.

She was so different from when she left, Inojin noted. She was taller, her hair was ragged and all over the place. Her arms looked far more muscular than they had before she left and she'd grown at least 10 centimetres. There was dirt everywhere and her clothes were pretty ragged. Shikadai was blushing furiously until Chōchō clipped him around the head. The action brought a huge grin to Himawari's face and soon they were all laughing at the Nara's expense.

Once they'd calmed down, the group started to share stories. Himawari filled them in on how crazy her adventure had been and all the encounters she'd had with 'The United'. Inojin told some stories about their defence of the village, as well as explaining how he'd come to get the scar on his face. After they'd completely caught up the group sat quietly, realising just how much had happened in a short period of time.

"It's really gotten crazy." Chōchō summed up all of their thoughts as they sat quietly musing. Inojin pursed his lips before standing up. Something seemed off. He'd noticed it, and something that Himawari had said was pulling that same string inside him. For the last week, any raids had been very light and the fighters didn't seem all that experienced, in contrast to those he had fought at the gate months ago.

So there was two possible scenarios. Shikadai seemed to be coming to a similar conclusion with his eyebrows tightly pulled into a frown. The first was that they'd all gotten much more experienced with fighting the invaders. It made sense and had a reasonable basis. They'd been gradually getting more experienced against fighting the rifle and accounting for the knife blade at the end of them.

However, the other scenario concerned him deeply. The only reason that an enemy as fervent as this would have pulled back…

"They're planning a full-scale siege." Shikadai finished his thought aloud, his eyes shooting open. Inojin nodded worriedly. Himawari looked shocked and Chōchō looked furious. She'd helped a child who'd been attacked by one of the invaders and hadn't forgiven them for the offense. Inojin had had to drag her off the man as she beat him into a wall and hadn't relented even after he'd begged her to cool off.

"We need to tell the Hokage right away," said Inojin, his eyes full of worry. Shikadai looked even more concerned as they left and the reason why became evident.

There was a roar as they left the building and Himawari's head turned towards the gate. Without a word, she ran off in its direction, forcing the others to tag along. Running past confused civilians, Inojin felt a cold swear come over him. There was something wrong; he could feel it in the air. He could smell burning and smoke. As the group got closer they froze. Kurama and the other beasts were standing shoulder to shoulder, all bristling and roaring. Inojin ran ahead and leapt up the side of the wall and came face to face with a horrifying sight.

There was an enormous armour all clad in what looked like steel armour as far as his eyes could see. At the front of the mass was a woman clad in a tight, well fitted set of armour, covered in what looked like seals. With a grin, she straightened up and cupped her hands around her mouth before shouting in her odd language.

"You miserable wastes of space have till noon to kneel to us, or we will raze your pathetic city to the ground." The confidence she had in her forces was evident from the smug expression on her face. A timid man was roughly thrown on the ground and awkwardly translated the threat at rifle-point. Inojin glanced at Shikadai who was gnawing on his thumb, his mind obviously whirring with a plan. Chōchō looked furious and was angrily clenching one fist, with the other tightening on the fence. Himawari was… gone?

Inojin's eyes widened as the Uzumaki girl strode past the Tailed Beasts, ignoring Kurama's attempts to stop her. The woman looked taken aback at how young the girl coming towards her was, and she started to laugh. It was an oddly bitter sound, but Himawari wasn't dissuaded as she walked up. Her back was straight and she came to a stop close to the woman. There was a moment of silence as the two faced off.

In a flash, Himawari lashed out with her open palm, smashing the woman hard in the face. It happened so suddenly that no one reacted for a few moments. The purple-haired woman flew backwards into the army, nose clearly broken. Himawari stalked closer and kneeled down in front of her. She shouted, loud enough that even the people on the barracks could hear her voice, "Konoha will never fall to someone so vain."

Her word seemed to jerk the army out of their stupor and the troops started to grab their weapons and reach out for her, but the blue-haired girl was already atop the giant fox. With the sun behind her, she stood tall and raised her fist in the air with a grin. Inojin looked on in awe. He could only imagine how terrifying the girl must seem to the enemy right now. From her ragged clothes to her wild blue hair, and her having the guts to punch an enemy leader in the face? She must have seemed like a demon.

Chōchō cheered, "That's my girl!" As cheers started to come from the assembled residents, the purple woman attempted to repeat her threat whilst holding her nose, but no one was as fearful this time. Himawari had done a good job breaking the fearful façade and now they were on an even standing. One fell swoop had improved the morale of everyone and even Inojin could feel a fresh sense of energy through him. He wondered if this was how his mother and father would have felt watching the Seventh Hokage during the war. It was a mixture of awe and inspiration. As the wave pulled back, she jumped back to the wall and let out of a puff of air before wiping her forehead.

"I'm glad that work!" she grinned, "I wasn't certain that hitting her with the Gentle Fist would actually do anything!" Inojin felt his jaw go slack as Chōchō started to laugh hysterically and smacked Himawari on the back cheerfully, sending the smaller girl staggering.

"You showed them losers who's boss!" Shikadai shook his head in disbelief. For all of his planning, the girl had gone ahead and done something that he hadn't accounted for. It was downright embarrassing for the Nara to admit when he got something that simple wrong. It also showed that when it came to the Uzumaki's you could never account for how'd they'd act. He'd always taken his father's attitude with a grain of salt but he had finally seen their chaotic nature for himself.

Inojin separated from the group and watched out as the silver clad warriors retreated. They'd been embarrassed but from what he knew of these people and their culture, they'd only fight harder now. His fingers tightened into the wooden railing and he gritted his teeth. It was too much to back down now; they had to put up a stand for the village.

Hinata stood down in the crowd and looked up at the four teens joking and laughing. She'd heard the commotion while out getting groceries with one her Hyūga nieces and heard that Himawari was up to something. She'd rushed down just in time to see her daughter using one hard blow to knock the enemy woman flying. Her heart had swelled as she saw her daughter standing tall and making a stubborn-headed speech in front of the entire village. In that moment, she could have sworn that she saw Naruto at her side, one hand on her shoulder.

Mina looked on in awe, her white eyes wide as she stared at her sister. She'd never seem Himawari so confident and self-confident. She'd always believed that her sister was the coolest person in the world, but now she was seeing it right in front of her! People around them looked on in awe and started asking about who the girl was. A few people had seen her with Naruto in her younger years, but she'd never held as big a public image as Boruto. Plus, the lack of blonde hair had always made her seem more like her mother's daughter than her father.

Now Hinata could hear the swells in the people's voices. There was happiness for the first time in a while as they cheered for the girl and Hinata closed her eyes. She hoped that wherever Naruto was now, he'd be watching his daughter with pride.

The village was a hive of activity. Weapons were being distributed to those trained, genin were rushing the elderly and young into the bunkers, while an older group of chūnin were attempting to convince the upper-city to go into lockdown. Inojin had taken control of a squad of chūnin and was hiding in the branches of the forest with them, as laid out by Shikadai. The boy had been under quite a lot of pressure; this being his first time organising a large scale battle, but he seemed to have his head screwed on right.

There was simply too much of an opposing force for them to attack head on, so he'd broken down the forces into a variety of different units. Inojin had found himself part of a strike force that was going to engage in a series of fast-paced ambushes, rushing in and out, without giving the enemy time to regroup. Inojin was nervous. This was his first time working as part of an official unit in more than just a skirmish, and his entire body was on edge.

His palms were slick with sweat and every time he closed his eyes he saw the men he'd killed in the last fight where he'd gained his scar. His breath was coming in surges and he was struggling to catch it. Sarada would know what to do here. Was she even still alive? He hoped so. As his mind rushed at a million miles an hour, there was a soft whistle and the rest of his group started to shuffle nervously in their places. It took him a few seconds to focus in but he caught up quickly.

He was supposed to be one of the senior members of his squad and he knew they were looking to him for direction. Inojin clenched his fist and let out a small breath. He could do this. Slowly, he crept forwards that last bit and waited at the front of his group. There was apprehension on their faces. For many this would be their first real battle against a very real enemy. Death was a legitimate concern. There were no save points from here on out.

From their hiding spot, Inojin watched as a few of the soldiers idled about. Their armour was clunky and it restricted their movement quite a bit. So long as their hits were quick, they'd be fine. With a deep breath, he looked around and signalled to his group. They all nodded in unison, waiting to follow his lead. One more breath filled his lungs and then he leapt out of the tree, blade stabbing into one of the men's throats. As he fell to the ground gurgling, Inojin lept off the corpse and ducked under a quick swing of the blade before deflecting another with his sword.

The rest of his unit piled in, sending the combined warriors into disarray. Screams rose from the camp as the shinobi flew through them, smashing their equipment and sending them running off in every direction. One man in the centre of the camp desperately yelled at the men, clearly attempting to take control in the chaos. Inojin made a beeline for him, and knock him down with a flying boot to the throat. Suddenly, a whistle from the trees and Inojin glanced back. It was the signal to pull back.

Waving a hand, Inojin and his crew ran back and lept into the branches, quickly moving away from the scene of the attack. They had done a lot of damage, but their job wasn't done yet. Inojin checked his phone and looked at the next location. There another group of soldiers to attack, just north of their position. He quickly whispered the orders to his crew before taking off through the treetops.

Chōchō looked nervously at Himawari. The blue haired girl was sitting with her legs crossed on top of the Nine-Tails head, a look of extreme focus plastered across her face. She'd been that way since the two had been assigned the same squad. Himawari was only a genin, but Shikadai had requested her given her rapport and apparent increase in strength. Before she'd closed her eyes, she'd told Chōchō that by talking to the beasts, she'd be able to strategize and make sure they weren't going to accidentally hurt any of the wrong people.

Unfortunately, that left Chōchō with an awkward silence and a creeping sense of nausea. As she fiddled with the small pendant she'd gotten from her mother, the Uzumaki's eyes snapped open and she grinned. "Alright, we're ready to go as soon as we get the signal!" Even in the face of extreme danger the girl was excited.

Feigning a smile, Chōchō nodded. She was ready for this. Her chakra levels were good, she knew her techniques. She'd always performed well on missions and with the bijū besides them; it wasn't like they had an enormous difference in firepower. Chōchō looked out over the horizon and bit her thumb. The waiting was going to be the death of her.

Shikadai stood in the hastily set up headquarters within the Hokage building, computers scattered all over the room and people shouting information everywhere. The relays from the attacks were coming back with good initial results, but he was slightly concerned. Since her disgrace at Himawari's hands, there'd been no sign of the commanding woman, so either she'd fled or was regrouping. He wasn't sure which was the better option.

Glancing at a big screen to his right, Shikadai watched as Inojin crushed a man's windpipe and winced. It didn't matter how many times he saw it across so many different screens, death was always the same horrible thing. Forcing himself to look back, he poured over the footage, looking for anything to suggest which way the raids were going. The fast paced hits were starting to unnerve some of the weaker-willed soldiers. If they could reduce the army to shambles before they even got the chance to attack, then it was a good win. His hit squads were taking advantage of the best parts of the shinobi nature; speed and stealth.

There was a scream from one of the screens and Inojin's camera spun around to see one of the girls on his team take a blade to the throat. Shikadai winced, watching as Inojin faltered for a moment, barely dodging a thrust to his own neck. His fingers tightened as he watched the blonde boy call for a retreat and run into the forest. They wouldn't be able to keep up these strikes for long. The enemy had already become on full alert and were forming stronger defences against the small units.

Shikadai keyed his radio, calling all of the strike units in. It was time to get them in place for the genuine strike. One of the analysts looked over at him and wondered just how the boy was keeping so calm with so many lives in his hands.

In his mind, Shikadai was playing shogi with his father. His mental-dad had promised not to hold back and was putting up a ridiculous attack, forcing Shikadai to play defensively. His mind rushed as he tried to work out the perfect way to refute the onslaught of his father's puzzles. This simulation was helping him keep cool on the outside and he nodded finally.

"Himawari, Chōchō. It's time. Launch the offense."

"Thanks, Shika!" Himawari looked to Chōchō with a grin. "Time for our big move."

Standing up, she cheered the 9 bijū on, and they lept forth with a roar and rush of wind. Chōchō barely managed to cling on as they rushed through the forest. As trees were torn asunder, Himawari spotted the front of the army and pointed at it excitedly.

"There we go Kurama, let's go!"

The fox smirked, before launching himself at the front lines. The effect was devastating. People flew, and screams of disarray filled the air. Himawari had made sure to ask Kurama and the other bijū not to kill anyone they didn't absolutely have to. She didn't want anyone to lose their family like she had, no matter how evil they were. Kurama had bemoaned the fact that he'd have to hold back even the slightest for the normal people, but went along with it regardless.

The frontrunners of the army had already been on edge from the constant attacks of the morning, and now they were faced with 9 enormous monsters attacking them head on. It was simply too much for most of them, who turned tail and ran off in every direction. Those who stayed were swept aside by paws, claws and tails. They simply couldn't stand up to the legendary beasts themselves.

Himawari was laughing wildly as she desperately held onto Kurama's pelt. She was being thrown every which way and loving every moment of it. Suddenly there was a flash of purple flame and Matatabi jumped back with a yelp of pain. "There she is, Kurama!"

_Yes, little one, I haven't lost the use of my eyes just yet._

The woman was completely covered in that arcane armour again, except this time she was wearing an adorned helmet. It was covered in a wreath of purple flame, not unlike a chakra cloak. Kurama advanced with a snarl, ignoring the sounds of battle all around them. The woman shouted loudly and charged. Kurama crouched low before pouncing at her, jaws gnashing. The beast could take no chances with a woman as strong as this one.

They clashed with fierce intensity, Kurama's claws knocking her flying across the clearing. The woman dragged herself back to her feet, pointing an open hand at them. Kurama jumped to the side as a bolt of purple flame flew at them. From her perch, Himawari activated her byakugan, scanning for any signs of weakness in the armour.

Chōchō had leapt off Son Gokū's back and was battering her way through any soldiers who were brave enough to stay put. Her Partial Body Enlargement technique was coming in handy as she swatted back anyone who tried to line up a shot at her. Himawari focussed her energies in on the battle in front of her. She planned to wait till Kurama put the woman on her back leg, then get to the ground and hit her hard enough to break her armour. If they could do that and capture her, then they'd hopefully break the spirit of the army.

Kurama struck a crushing blow on the woman and she went straight into a tree. Whatever material or chakra had been used on her armour had made it incredibly strong, as she unfalteringly stood back up. Suddenly, her byakugan picked up a hairline fracture in the breastplate of her armour. With a shout, she leapt from Kurama's back and slapped feet first into the armour. The woman went staggering but recovered quickly.

A nasty swing of the staff nearly took Himawari's head off. She landed another blow on the armour and darted back before the staff came crashing down on her. The woman started chanting and there was a huge wave energy that sent Himawari rolling backwards. It seemed that no matter how long she watched the woman, there was always another card up her sleeve. Himawari was just counting on the fact that the woman wouldn't use the chakra cancelling attack because that would put a whole in her plans.

There was a slash and she rolled to the side, putting a chakra-laced kick into the armour. One of the woman's punches came too quick for her to respond and Himawari staggered backwards, her head rattled from the strength behind the blow. There was no mercy as the woman smashed her staff into her head, knocking her to the ground. As the girl desperately tried to get off the ground, a huge kick sent her flying into a tree. Falling to the ground, the girl started to cough wet horrible coughs. She was pretty sure the last kick had broken one of her ribs.

The woman came over and grabbed her hair, yanking her head up. Himawari spat out a mouthful of blood defiantly and the woman laughed viciously. She ripped off her helmet and her deep purple eyes were glowing. "You… have… fallen." Her enunciation was a bit off, but Himawari could understand it. "Why… don't you… surrender?"

She grinned, ignoring all the pain.

"Because we aren't the ones who are losing."

An enormous explosion racked the area and the woman whirled, letting go of Himawari. Instantly she pushed her opening and leapt at the woman, one finger extended. Focussing all her chakra into the attack, she made contact. The crack which had progressively been getting bigger but this final direct attack sent a huge ripple and the armour split in two. The woman was left in her robe, completely unprotected.

She looked stunned and raised a hand to her robe, but Himawari closed the gap and took a quick breath before launching into an attack she'd been taught at the Hyūga compound; Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms. The first two strikes landed powerfully, the second two knocking the woman back a step. She tried to raise her arms to defend herself but it was no good. Each strike came faster and faster, knocking her arms to the side.

There was no noise in Himawari's ears as she smashed her hands into her opponent, again and again, carefully placing her blows in just the right place to hit the tenketsu. Blood started to drip down the woman's mouth and Himawari gritted her teeth as she struck the last blow throwing the woman flying. She landed heavily and was obviously struggling to breath. Himawari was exhausted from the final move, her injuries finally catching up to her.

She slumped to the ground, barely conscious.

_It's up to you, guys! Do your best! _

As soon as the demolitions team lit the fireworks, Inojin launched himself out of the forest. Shinobi sprung from everywhere, besieging the complacent rear guard. Most of them were archers and weren't wearing as much armour and quickly fell or surrendered to the fast moving ninja of the Leaf. Mitsuki was running alongside him with a grin, throwing men and women alike into each other with his weird arm jutsu. It didn't matter how many times he used it, it would always make Inojin uncomfortable. The pair circled through the archer unit before exploding out into a bunch of soldiers on horses.

Not skipping a beat, Mitsuki slapped on the horses on the ass, sending it colliding into one of the other horses, whinnying wildly. Their riders flipped off and fell to the ground with a nasty crunch, but there was no time to stand and gawk. The pair continued their path onwards before they were stopped by two enormous men in armour. They were clearly guarding something and Inojin was determined to get past them, running and sliding. He didn't make it far, instead being hauled up into the air by his long hair.

"Like we'd let runts like you near the high priest!" chortled the one who had Inojin by his hair. Screaming in pain, Inojin took slashed a kunai at the man's wrist and fell to the ground hard. Mitsuki pushed the advantage, wrapping his elongated arms around the man's head and pulling him down into the ground.

"Inojin, finish it!" Mitsuki shouted, fending off the second man's advance. Inojin looked down at the broken man on the ground. He was writhing in pain and wasn't any more of a threat than a fly at this point. As he leant down to knock the man out, he grabbed the shinobi by the throat and started to strangle him. Inojin choked horribly, feeling the blood struggle to pump as he tried to draw in a breath. Suddenly the man's head rolled to the side, and he dropped Inojin. Mitsuki flicked the blood from Inojin's sword off and looked at the body in distaste.

_You can't hesitate, _Inojin thought as he got back to his feet, coughing heartily. It was only then he saw the threat looming in front of them. His eyes widened and he cursed. They weren't going to catch a break that easily.

Takara was running alongside another chūnin when an enormous shaking sent her sprawling. She could feel a bit of blood running from her face where she'd hit her head and looked to her partner. He was out cold. Sighing, she grabbed him and started to drag him away when suddenly there was a flash and he was gone. She blinked. When she opened her eyes again, a tall raven haired man was standing in front of her, his mismatched eyes devoid of emotion.

"You've got to move. Do you need help?"

"Uh, no, I'm okay to walk."

He shook his head. "No time for that, run as fast as you can, things are about to get out of control." Takara's eyes narrowed. Who was this man?

A black dot moving quickly from the corner of her eye drew her eyes to the sky, and there was an explosion as it hit the ground, as well as the screams of the foreigners. The man turned back and sighed. "Too late. Just keep out of their way." With a flash and rustling of leaves, the man vanished into thin air, leaving Takara alone in the suddenly quiet clearing.

Shikadai was panicking. _How did they have a giant robot? _It was unthinkable. Nothing about their tech had suggested the ability to create giant moving robots, unpiloted or not. His hands were hastily tightening and untightening as he struggled to think of a unit that could fight something like that. He could try and mobilize Himawari with the tailed-beasts- no, she was unconscious and Chōchō was keeping her protected. Inojin and Mitsuki could try to disable it – No, their comms had been destroyed earlier on.

He slammed a closed fist into the table in frustration. There wasn't anything he could do right now but hope the forces on the ground did something to force it back. Suddenly, Inojin's camera caught sight of something that left Inojin in shock. The robot took a step to try and crush Inojin underfoot, when suddenly a flash of lightning separated it from the body. There was Sasuke Uchiha, sharingan and rinnegan on full show slicing through it like butter. To the left was another man, much slower but apparently with just as much strength behind him swinging a ridiculously proportioned blade that sliced through the metal. The two fell to the ground as the robot landed with a crash, leaving Inojin cursing and Mitsuki laughing in the background.

Shikadai let out a sigh of relief. Say what you want about the Uchiha, but his timing was impeccable.

On the battleground, Sasuke was surrounded. His stunt with the robot had left him in the middle of hundreds of soldiers, who'd barely given him the chance to stand before attacking. He sliced through them like it was nothing, coldly throwing them from side to side. One berserker, clothed in a red flame came dangerously close to laying a finger on his shoulder and he lit him on fire with Ameratsu. Finally calling upon Susanoo, Sasuke set about beating down the army in earnest, Suigetsu catching anyone who got past the dual katana.

While he fought, Sasuke felt an enormous presence and turned around to once more come face to face with the robot. It had reattached its limbs and lashed out with a giant punch which Sasuke's Susanoo caught with practiced ease. As he drew back the enormous fist, there was an explosion of energy as Karin released her Adamantine Sealing Chains. They viciously lashed around the giant robot and hauled it to the ground, avoiding the worst of the battle. His sharingan could tell that the robot was at least in part powered by chakra, so the effect of the chains was good.

Turning back to the battle, Sasuke fought on, blasting away as many of the attacking forces as he could without hurting any of the shinobi left in the area. How the enemy had managed to amass such a powerful force was beyond him, but he was determined to stomp out every last bit of resistance and make Konoha safe once again. Smashing the Susanoo's fist into the ground, Sasuke thought of his children and promised them that he'd make it home safe.

Boruto was running away. Really fast.

Their camp had been discovered by "William" two days ago, and since then, the trio had been running for their lives. The man was a beast and made Boruto feel a fear that he'd never felt in his life, even when facing Momoshiko. At least when he'd fought Momoshiki, he'd had Sasuke and his father beside him. Now, it was just himself, Sarada and Mélisande, running as fast as they could from the man.

He'd come into their camp in the middle of the night and drawn his sword on Mélisande. Before Boruto had had a chance to react, he'd slice a cross into her forehead, before kicking her to the side. Sarada had attempted to fight back, but even her sharingan was struggling to keep up with the man's bizarre sword movements, which was more like a style based upon thrusts than the slices she was used to.

Boruto had slung a Rasengan at the man, but with a slice of the gilded blade, it had vanished. Boruto was in shock. No one had managed to dodge the vanishing technique and this man had just faced it head on. Taking no chances, he'd resorted to risking the use of the Chidori, but Sarada had grabbed his arm. Her eyes told him that it wasn't worth the risk. Nodding, he'd grabbed Mélisande and her pack and run for it.

They hadn't stopped running since then. The man moved fast and his ominous presence could be felt as far off as a few kilometres. Boruto was running out of energy and he knew it. Once Mélisande had recovered, he'd made the decision to run them back to Konoha. It was the cowards move, but right now it was their only option.

If they continued their current heading, they should come out near the entrance to the main gate. Sarada was running ahead to try and get help while Boruto helped Mélisande. He slowed down to a jog, his breath hitching badly. As far as he could tell the man was a long way off, so he could slow down his pace for the last stretch.

All of a sudden, there was an enormous explosion of fire and Sarada came hurtling back towards him. "Boruto! It's… Quick, no time to explain!"

Boruto resumed his sprint, eyes wide. Nothing could spook Sarada like that and as he came into the clearing, he realised that there was something that could. Around them was fire. Bodies lay immobile on the ground, some dead, some screaming horribly in pain. Swords lay everywhere and some of those rifles too. It was a battlefield no doubt about it. What drew his eyes was the fact that among all the piled up bodies was a man in a slashed up cloak, bleeding from a few different wounds.

Sarada ran across the field, sliding on her knees to a stop in front of her father, and caught him as he fell. His face was pale and Boruto recognised the traits of chakra exhaustion. He must have fought incredibly hard to sustain this level of exhaustion and Boruto wondered just how many of the dead or dying were from Sasuke alone. Sarada was sobbing as she cradled her father in her arms.

Mélisande staggered into the clearing, looking around in shock. When she saw Sarada, she ran to her side and lit the green flame on her palm, placing it on the Uchiha man's cheek. Sasuke twitched before coming to with a shout of pain. Sarada gasped and placed a hand over her mouth before looking at Mélisande thankfully. The blonde collapsed to the grass in exhaustion. There was a shout as Sakura ran to his side, tears streaming from her face. As soon as the woman came to his side, she was healing him, cursing him for being such an idiot.

Leaving his side, Boruto looked up to see Sai approach. He'd been helping his genin squad co-ordinate the evacuation and had only just made it to the battlefield alongside Lee and Sakura to help drive back the last few members of the army. They were in retreat after Sasuke and the rest of Taka's enormous pushback.

"Ah, Boruto. Welcome back from Suna." Sai winked before turning away to conjure a giant bird. "Sakura, let's fly our comrade back to the hospital for some well-deserved rest."

Boruto looked around in shock. Just what had happened whilst they'd been gone. Everyone looked exhausted and were in various states of disarray. As he tried to take it all in, he found himself tackled to the ground. Looking up he was confronted with a shock of blue hair and enormous smile. Himawari grinned down at her brother before jumping off.

Standing back up, Boruto frowned. Something was off. His sister wasn't supposed to be this tall. It was then he had the sickening realisation that his sister's growth spurt had put her to roughly a little bit taller than him. Groaning, he pulled her into a big hug. "Sorry I've been gone so long."

She shook her head and waved him off. "No, it's okay!" She smiled, "Mama's doing a lot better and I've got all the Tailed Beasts defending us now, so everything will be okay." Boruto nodded, still in shock from the information overload. A moment later, his blood ran cold, and he turned around to look at the forest.

"Oh shi-!" Everyone was in danger now, the man was moving much faster and his ominous presence fell over Boruto like a rainstorm. There was a loud slash and the forest at the edge of the clearing was torn asunder in a blast. Standing there was the blonde man, his face soft. With a smile, he pointed at Mélisande and muttered in his weird language.

"Give me my sister, and I'll kill you quickly." Boruto recognised the word kill from his lessons with Mélisande and felt a chill run through him. Mélisande was struggling to stand up, still completely drained from trying to heal Sasuke with her technique.

"Boruto, who's this guy?" whispered Himawari, her eyes shifting into the byakugan.

"He's stronger than anyone I've ever seen and sadistic as hell." Boruto gritted his teeth. Everyone here was in some degree of exhaustion and not in a state to fight such a strong man. At least they had the advantage of speed but Sasuke couldn't move and Sakura had to stay still to heal him. Feeling desperate he stepped in front of the man and gritted his fist. What could he possibly do to force this man away?


End file.
